Picard Returns To Star Trek And Thoughts For The New Series

Hello and welcome to... Future Imperfect. I'm

your host, Admiral Phillips, and joining me is

Captain Dodd. That's right, I have joined you

from thisweekendgeek .net and on this edition

of the Future Imperfect's Logs we are taking

out into the great expanse known as the Great

Unknown of the... yet just recently announced

Captain Picard series will be on CBS All Access

at some point in the future. Plus some miscellaneous

Trek news that has hit the calm network such

as it was be it good bad or what the hell is

going to happen next with this franchise. I guess

we're not to wait and talk about that. So yes,

me and Admiral Phillips have been doing our thing

here on the future imperfect. Haven't been doing

a lot with Starfleet over the last little bit,

or at least I haven't anyway. I've been filing

reports. I've been communicating, but we've had

a couple members join up from the unlisted category.

Oh, good. We're still short of our 10 quota,

but we're getting there. Faith will get there.

That's good, because I'm really hoping to kick

things into high gear with the future imperfect

now that we're getting into the fall, which means

things are... Things are getting busier, but

things are getting slower. What I mean by that

is there's more time, yet there's less time.

I don't know. I'm just finding... I can probably

dedicate more time to being inside watching Star

Trek now that the cooler weather is starting

to come here, or my wheelchair won't be able

to get around as much as I used to be able to.

So yeah, we'll wait and see. But hopefully I'll

get around to watching more Star Trek. We could

file more reports and maybe get more people active

in our chapter because... We will we will get

to that 10 before the end of the year. I assure

you of that So funny enough that you mentioned

the chapter This is a good thing. So don't Don't

go down that rabbit hole. Of course. So anyways,

we Actually, I was emailed a couple of days ago

about attending an event Local to my area. Mm

-hmm which you may ask, what would that be? There's

a science museum in Michigan, the Michigan Science

Center, and it's one of the biggest ones. It's

like in Detroit, but they have these events called

After Dark. which is basically when the museum

closes to the public. Every month on the third

Thursday, they have from six to nine PM, a 21

and over event. So they've done like vintage

video games, you know, so you'll play like all

kinds of consoles that they'll have set up around

there. People in cosplay, they've done Marvel

versus DC. in August and I was totally unaware

of any of these things so September they're doing

Star Trek ooh and they reached out to me to make

a presence there and I was hoping that they were

going to have a panel like they did for the Marvel

vs DC but they've opted not to do that for the

Star Trek one which I find a little unfortunate,

but at the same time, like I'm excited to be

going in the first place. But yeah, they said

that they're having a Star Trek themed event

and that they'd love for me to be part of the

event in some format. And so I reached back out

and let them know that I was interested. And

so there's a possibility I may be doing like...

Chapter recruitment? Well, that or Trek trivia

or... Elements concerning that and I threw a

couple of ideas of things that could be done

there Regarding track and so we'll just kind

of see I'm waiting to hear back with the because

they're still in the final stages of the planning

so there's a little bit of adjustments and things

that they may yet do so I'm gonna try and do

some live live streaming and trying to do Just

whatever capacity I can there So yeah, it's pretty

cool. So I'd be heading directly from work to

there. So I'm kind of excited. I think that's

actually pretty cool. And I'm always glad whenever

events in the local community reach out to fan

clubs such as this, because I would imagine this

group has probably reached out to people such

as the 501st, which is the Star Wars Costume

Guild. and stuff like that. So that's neat. I'm

really happy for that. I think that'll be some

good exposure for us and good exposure for you

and just a chance to give back to the Star Trek

community at large. I really hope you get a chance

to do trivia. I think it'd be neat if you could

somehow set up a pub quiz or something like that,

if you can get enough participants in it. I think

it'll be kind of interesting because I know that

they want to do trivia, for sure. And so I am

waiting to see if they are providing the trivia

or if I am providing the trivia. Because there's

a plethora of things that I can think of, both

easy and difficult, in Trek that would be interesting

to have come out during the trivia time, especially

because they have a signature drink, alcoholic

beverage for people at these events that are

part of the admission. And then, so it'll be

funny to see some of the people partially intoxicated

trying to answer questions. I think it'll be

fun, especially. If there is drinking involved,

you've got to figure out a way to do a pub quiz

because pub quizzes is some of the most fun I've

had doing conventions like magfest and packs

where you just get a group of people at a table

and you can have teams compete against you. And

as long as you're not making it super hard trivia

like what uniform did Captain Bekar wear in episode

four of season three or some bullshit like that.

So that still could be fun. I think you're going

to have a tremendously fun time there. Yeah,

so I'm kind of excited about it because it's

the first time I've been invited to partake in

an event in some capacity, official capacity,

so it's kind of cool. And they reached out through

the Future Imperfect website, which was even

more awesome. Well, aren't we just all sorts

of badass? Yes, yes. I just wish I had my Starfleet

uniform. Oh, you don't have I was actually gonna

ask you do you have it like ready to go yet?

It's not It's still being worked on but it's

it's more so At the whim of the designer Because

I happen to choose a very difficult design it's

not Like the DS 9 it's not you know TNG it's

not although my It's not the Monster Maroon from

the Wrath of Khan. That's what they call it in

the Star Trek sphere. I like the DS9, you know,

Star Trek TNG film uniform. And I also like the

TOS film uniform as is my late main too. But

in Star Trek Online, I like the Odyssey uniform.

The Odyssey dress uniform, which is basically

the wrath of Khan uniform given basically mixed

with the TNG uniform and that's the result you

get and plus I had my own color scheme to it

instead of the one that was by default in the

game and so That is the uniform of having made

so it's going to be epic, but I'm still gonna

have my Star Trek comb badges and TOS communicator

with me and generic Star Trek t -shirt with the

Enterprise, but just because that's all I have.

When is the event? It's September 20th. Well,

you've got a few weeks. You should maybe reach

out to some of the local fan clubs. You can always

just put a blast out on our groups. They're bound

to know someone who does Star Trek cosplay and

then could invite a few people out. Never know.

Could be fun. Yeah, and that's kind of one of

the things that I suggested to them too, so it's

pretty awesome. So couldn't help but tease that.

Go us! Yes, go us. So anyways, in addition to

all of that, we have some Trek news that came

up that, yeah, we're a little late in the game

to the news, but better late than never. So yeah,

Patrick Stewart. Revealed that he's at Star Trek

alive that he's going to be returning is Jean

-Luc Picard And this will be a series produced

exclusively for CBS all -access I think that

premieres I don't think they've announced a premiere

date or even when they're starting production.

All we know is that it's a Captain Picard series

He's coming back. We don't know if any other

Star Trek TNG alumni will be with him or not

If this is a Hail Mary for the Star Trek franchise,

I can't think of anything else outside of bringing

back William Shatner, and he can't do the things

that Patrick Stewart can still do at his age.

Well, Shatner's almost 90 and Patrick Stewart's

almost 80. But I'd argue Picard, or Picard, I'd

argue Stewart's in way better shape. Oh, well,

he did X -Men films. Yeah, exactly. So Shatner

hasn't done anything since Boston Legal, really.

Yeah, he's done maybe a cameo here and there.

So nothing significant enough to sink your kind

of teeth into. So, I mean, I think this is a

good idea. It'll probably be if if I had to make

a prediction now. It'll be 10 to 13 episodes

They're gonna try and get their money's worth

out of Stewart because I bet you they backed

backed up a Dump truck full of money to his house

and said look Patrick. We're in trouble here.

Um, and Patrick's always been really good to

the fans He's always been really good to the

franchise Despite leaving back with nemesis back

and I want to say 2003 I think 2002. So it's

been quite a number of years since he's been

involved with any film or anything else in that

capacity. So but also I see this as CBS saying,

hey, we need this service to be a success. And

what better way than basically taking every fanboy's

dream of saying I want a Captain Picard Starfleet

Academy series, because that's what I think it's

going to be. It's going to be Starfleet Academy

or something equivalent, or maybe The Young Adventures

of Captain Picard with Picard doing bookends

to each episode or something I have I have different

theories on it because One of the series that

is going to be produced is a Starfleet Academy

series. Yeah, so I don't think that they're gonna

go that route with them There's also going to

be another animated series to what degree I don't

know There's gonna be the little miniseries kind

of highlighting character highlights of like

discovery characters Uh, then of course there's

discovery which they're kind of revamping for

season two and i'm in favor of um, and then we've

got the card and in a con series and so The picard

series, uh, I I see it being 13 episodes. I see

it being a one -off um Unless you know, it goes

really well and then they they managed to bring

it back again and uh, or or maybe do like a reicher

series or something but uh Also, they could have

LeVar Burton easily, because even in Star Trek

Online, he's captain of the Starship Challenger

that he was in in that alternate future episode

of Voyager. So he's still involved in Starfleet

in that capacity. Worf would be an ambassador,

although I'd still be in favor of Captain Worf

series, which may get closer to a possibility

after Picard. Well, yeah, because like I said,

CBS needs CBS all access to be a success and

they're banking on a big name star like Stuart

to really carry it to be the flagship. Because

as successful as Discovery was, you could still

get it on broadcast and it was still pirated

and guarantee they're going to torrent the hell

out of this series too. But it'll probably encourage

the more less tech savvy person to subscribe

to the service in order to boost some of those

numbers that CBS wants. to see out of it. Well,

CBS has decided in their infinite wisdom that

they need a Star Trek series going 365 days a

year. Like they need consistent Star Trek content

all year, which that would get me on board with

their service. Knowing that every week I'm going

to have a Star Trek episode, even if it's of

a different series. having them all, you know,

one right after the other would keep the momentum

going. And I think that that's really brilliant

on their behalf because there's really no way

for you to sign up and binge an entire series

if there's more series constantly going. Yeah.

It keeps you constantly engaged. Yeah. And so

like the Picard series, I see two things. I see

him being in the ambassador role. Yeah, it's

gonna be real time. They're gonna have him, you

know, or retired ambassador retired Which he

would have been the ambassador to Falcon at some

point, but he's it's gonna take place, you know

20 years after the TNG Demisys episode, so you'll

have whoever you know from the original cast

in whatever capacity that they would be in this

point You know data would be reborn through before.

And then you'd have Geordi as the captain of

the Challenger, you know, Ryker would either

be Admiral of a Starbase or captain of the Titan

still. Troy would be with him. Dr. Crusher would

be at Starfleet Medical. And then Worf would

be either ambassador on the Klingon homeworld

or he would be, you know, to some other degree

involved with Starfleet. But I see Picard going

in the route of, in a way, like the last Jedi,

but not. Okay. And I say that because I think

that they're going to make this a definitive

end to his character in some of the TNG timelines.

We may see DS9 people or Voyager people show

up, which would be great. You know, people cameoing

in different capacities in relation to the story

and how they would fit. But I also see them kind

of having Picard because Starfleet's kind of

gone all military. You know, whether it's the

Romulans, the Borg, the Breen, which are, I believe,

after at some point or during the Dominion time.

So, I mean, you have all these different wars

constantly going on and then the relations between

the Klingons break down. And so, like, technically,

this series is going to kind of butt up into

just prior to the Star Trek online timeline.

Now it depends. This will set kind of precedent

whether online it will be considered officially

canon. And I know they've said it's canon, whatever.

CBS has claimed that it is canon. But ultimately

what's on TV is ultimate canon. Stuff like that.

It's like saying stuff that happened to the comic

books. Yeah, it's canon. But if something on

TV happens, that's canon. You know what I mean?

It's going to basically it's going to come down

to movies, official canon, then TV, then whatever

extra properties because more people are going

to watch the TV series as opposed to play the

game. True. But that will determine ultimately

what happens. But being that it's written as

a fan service for the most part. And I think

I think it'll be relegated to kind of like how

memory beta is considered canon. You know what

I mean? Memory Beta is not considered canon.

Memory Alpha is. Okay, well, what I'm trying

to say is the Picard series will wipe out if...

What I think is going to happen, I think it'll

wipe out Star Trek Online's storyline and Star

Trek Online will be its own thing -ish. Well,

I don't think so. I don't think so, honestly,

because there's a decent amount of history that's

missing in the game between the time period of

Nemesis and when Voyager comes home to the 2409.

And so there's enough time between that span

that they could easily fill in the gap. And you

never find out what happened to Picard, you never

find out what happened to Ryker post Nemesis,

you never find out Troy, Crusher. You only find

out Worf, Geordi and Data are the only three

that are actually still active as far as mention

in Star Trek Online, like nobody else has any

mention. That would surprise me tremendously

because I don't see Star Trek Online having the

synergy with the TV show. Now if they're smart,

they would figure out a way to do it. Well, they've

tied Star Trek Online to all between Enterprise,

TOS, Voyager, DS9, and TNG. it fits between those

and all of the films, like timeline -wise, like

everything interweaves in the gray area or the

missing space of the Star Trek timeline, of the

Prime timeline. And so, like I said, there's

a nice 20 -year gap between Nemesis and the year

2409 where, other than the Federation's Alliance

with the Klingons having broken down and they're

kind of fighting and at war with the Klingons

again There's really nothing else going on. Yeah,

so there's like I said, there's plenty of area

to play in there and even if Picard's is Secluded

within the timeline and it doesn't really affect

Star Trek online or the you know All the other

cannons that are considered cannon by CBS. There's

still enough Other areas that this could take

place and not affect either way So I think that

we could end up seeing Picard possibly like Captain

of some kind of a freighter or getting his old

crew back together ala all good things To do

one final mission together Certain people that

would you know be partaking in the series that

is or certain Starfleet. I could almost see this

being Star Trek's own version of Renegades. I

kind of had a feeling you were probably going

to go there with that, yeah. Because Picard has

always been this idealist and this person that

stands up for what is right and what is just

and individual rights and civilization rights

and archaeology and preserving things the way

that they should be instead of all of these you

know, Starfleet's kind of questionable actions

depending on admirals that are giving commands.

So I could see very much Picard kind of having

this, you know, I'm tired of taking it, I don't

work for you anymore, and I'm going to do what

I want. And so then he kind of goes on his own

mission and I could see people from TNG, Voyager,

and DS9, and even maybe some of the TOS cast

jumping in if there's, you know, a way for that

to happen. Yeah, we're gonna have to see basically

one thing this show will live and die by its

budget Not by its writing and what I mean by

budget how many stars can they get on board?

Mm -hmm because Patrick Stewart Once again the

truckload of money backed up to his house I hope

you got a few shopping bags full of cash to bring

other people on board, but then again Despite

you don't see people like freaks and serious

doing a lot outside of doing Stuff behind the

camera. You don't see them doing a lot of acting.

That's what I'm saying. No, you don't really

see them doing a lot anymore. Certis does stuff

on British television now, and she and Tim Ross

have actually just recently guest starred in

The Orville, which is why Certis was around with

Jonathan Frakes because she was pulled into an

episode of The Orville that Frakes directed.

Frakes does a lot more behind the camera at this

point. But it would be great to see them all

return being that they're seemingly one of the

most close -knit casts out of any of the Trek

series. Like they all genuinely like each other

and get along. And that's why I like almost all

the time, like 90 % of them will be together

at a convention at any given point. Yeah, I mean.

I guess it'll also depend a lot on schedules,

too, on basically how things are gonna work.

So, like I said, I'm fairly, I don't know, I

wanna be optimistic, but I'm very pessimistic,

because I know Discovery looked good -ish for

its budget. Coulda looked better. Season two

looks a hell of a lot better. Picard better look

amazing. I think that Discovery looks better

for season two because of the tone. Yeah. And

the fact that they're trying to actually connect

with TOS instead of just kind of having this

like dark war series. And also it looks like

that they've cut back the special effects and

have more like practical involved. And so it

looks more clean instead of shiny and polished.

of the CG, like it looks more natural. And I

think that that's why the teasers for Discovery

so far look so much more uplifting and nicer

and more Trek in nature than season one did.

But if you look at TNG, TNG was dark as heck

during the first season and it turned around

and got more light as the series went on. I mean,

it had its dark episodes, but it was still it

got lighter in tone. and more enjoyable covering

its its various topics. Mm hmm. I think Picard,

I think it'll be mostly a very I don't see it

going the route of war. I see it being not a

lighter show in terms of like, I think if anything,

it'll stick very close to the trek, ideals of

exploration, peace, and all the good stuff that

Gene Roddenberry wanted to stand for. I think

it'll be, it'll feel closer to, like you said,

late TNG, maybe even early Voyager, than, say,

Discovery or DS9's War Stories. See, and this

is the great thing of when Picard or Patrick

Stewart, when he posted on Twitter, he says,

I will always be very proud to have been part

of Star Trek The Next Generation, but when we

wrapped that final movie in the spring of 2002,

I felt my time with Trek had run its natural

course. It is therefore an unexpected but delightful

surprise to find myself excited and invigorated

to be returning to Jean -Luc Picard and to explore

new dimensions within him, seeking out new life

for him when I thought that life was over. During

these past years, It has been humbling to hear

stories about how the next generation brought

people comfort, saw them through difficult periods

in their lives, or how the example of Jean -Luc

inspired so many to follow in his footsteps,

pursuing science, exploration, and leadership.

I feel I'm ready to return to him for the same

reason, to research and experience what comforting

and reforming light he might shine on these often

dark times. I look forward to working with our

brilliant creative team as we endeavor to bring

a fresh unexpected and pertinent story to life

once more. I think. I think the series has its

work cut out for it. It's going to have very

high expectations. Yeah, exactly. A show like

this. If anything, and discovery had this problem,

too. I think it did a fairly good job. it can't

afford to fail. Like I said, this is CBS's Hail

Mary. And I don't know, like CBS believes in

CBS All Access. It believed enough in Discovery

to keep it going. So I guess we find out. Yeah,

it'll be interesting to see what they do, but

I believe that they're kind of... Stating that

possibly the the year would be like 2399 But

we also don't know yet, we don't know but that's

that's the Possibility because you're saying

it's supposed to be 20 years after nemesis Which

would be logically the same of age -wise of all

the actors so but they're saying that Yeah, it's

going to be interesting for sure to see what

transformation they take the card on in the future.

Sorry, my mic is caught around my leg right now.

So that's awesome. You hear me shifting around.

I'm sorry. Is Mike strangling him? Mike's strangling

Mike. But yeah. And then there's the other bit

of crap news that Paramount's just having all

kinds of fun right now because CBS is like, yay,

we're making money by trying to get people to

spend money and get our service. And Paramount's

like, crap, we can't afford two big actors for

our next film. Yeah, Chris Hemsworth and Chris

Pine have evidently walked. Yep. Yeah, it's been

a couple of weeks since the announcement, like

two, three weeks. They they backed out our negotiations

for the currently entitled truck for that is

still set to begin production at some point in

the future and Yeah, it's without Kirk like I

I mean It would be difficult for them to recast

at this point unless they were just gonna flat

out reboot Because it's not like they did it

after the first film like like they did with

Iron Man and in replacing roadie Yeah, now he's

had a couple of films to go in. But honestly,

losing Hemsworth isn't that big a deal. Losing

Kirk is a big deal. Yeah, and they think that,

and this is what they were saying, that the film

producer thinks that losing the stars doesn't

matter. He says losing Pine and Kirk is not a

big deal and kind of cool. Actors don't matter.

Stories do. This is the universe presenting an

opportunity to do something different. Bully

go over. No suits have gone before. is what the

producer's saying. But I still would have loved

to have seen Trek 4, the time traveling father

-son adventure with Hemsworth and Pine. Kind

of, you know, it would basically balance out

Pine's Kirk to be the Kirk that we know, having

met his father, but... I don't know. I won't

really be able to give it like that, because

you're already not going to have Chekhov because

he died before Beyond came out. Yeah. And I'd

rather they not recast that role. They're not

going to recast Chekhov. They're just going to

write him out. But then if you don't have Kirk,

then I don't know. I think it just kind of throws

like you can kind of do without like Sulu and

in checkoff at certain points because like oftentimes

they were kind of the rotating chair off the

enterprise But honestly like to go without Kirk

Spock McCoy and Uhura and Scotty. It's it's yeah,

that's Yeah, that's a bridge too far and that's

okay to do for a TV series But for a big -budget

movie, you're asking an awful lot of an awful

lot of the audience and the audience just won't

be there if those characters aren't there. When

you say Star Trek, they associate those five

core characters. You don't have them on screen.

And considering Chris Pine's career is still

fairly hot. I just I don't see this as a good

thing. Losing Hemsworth, he's got Avengers money

and probably for the next little bit, he won't

have to do anything. So. Yeah, I like, because

honestly, like, if they don't have Kirk in it,

I probably won't go see it because I honestly

like they've killed, you know, if they would

have just gone the route of having Captain Pike

instead of, you know, Kirk and kind of having

the timeline completely different, it would have

been different. But honestly, like with all the

growth they've put into Kirk's character over

the past three films, like I almost don't really

care. About the Paramount film universe and care

more about the television universe where they're

not trying to Mess with the original cast dynamics.

They're they're just creating new which leaves

or or playing within the universe where there's

Things missing Like there's not the history there

yet as far as we know other than like books,

which really aren't considered canon anyway so

it's Like I'm all in favor to what they're going

to do with Discovery season two in the Picard

series. But like honestly, like this news doesn't

really enthuse me to go see the next film. Yeah,

I'm my I still haven't even seen Star Trek Beyond

yet. And honestly, it's way better than Into

Darkness. That's not a high bar to crest. Well,

it felt like an original film, but because into

darkness bombed. Mm hmm. Beyond bombed Because

of that but the story was great Like yeah, you

did have the Star Trek 3 the search for Spock

where the Enterprise? crashes and burns Not to

I mean it's a spoiler, but it's not really like

they kind of show it in the promotional trailer,

but It's still like it's a totally new film beyond

that one element So But they did lie to us, though,

for Discovery. They did cast a Spock. Yeah, and

it wasn't Zachary Quinto, which would have been

a nice bit of continuity, but whatever. Some

new guy, and I think that's okay. I think he

looks the part. He looks the part. He definitely

has the look of Leonard Nimoy when he started

as Spock. But the funny thing is, his grandfather,

I believe, was associated with the original track.

I think his grandfather was Gregory Peck, and

his name is Ethan Peck, and Gregory Peck was,

I believe, involved, I gotta see what he was

in... Star Trek, but I believe he was he was

either an actor or a producer or something on

the original series Yeah, I'll have to dig more

into that but Yeah, I just thought that that

was kind of cool that There was that that element

as well So yeah, I don't know I'm kind of wondering

what they're gonna do with with Spock in the

show? Yeah, I'm still very uncertain about this.

Season two, like it all hinges on Spock somehow.

I don't know. We'll have to wait and see until

we see more. We'll know more in the new year.

We'll probably see another trailer before the...

We'll see something before the end of the year.

That is my prediction right now. Yeah So I was

wrong. He hadn't the grandfather had nothing

to do with Star Trek But he was a he was a famous

movie star TV star So that's that's where I got

that from but anyways, yeah I look forward to

seeing what they do with season 2 I have higher

hopes for this season compared to season 1 and

then I have really high hopes for Picard So I

really hope they don't let me down It's it's

it's gonna be difficult if they they do so On

the plus side though, Trek and CBS received the

Emmy's Governor Award. The Academy of Television

Arts and Sciences announced that the Star Trek

franchise and CBS Television Studios are this

year's recipient of the Governor's Award for

its contribution to society and media for 50

plus years. That's an accomplishment. Especially

for a television series. You know, it's a big

deal. It's a big deal trucks awesome. So anything

you'd like to Nothing too much really obviously

Where we got people are going back to school

rather soon. So make sure you're Ready to go

back. I may have a small back -to -school gift

guide on the twig main show in like a week So

for those of you starting college mostly that'll

be mostly for you guys not so much for the little

kids Hoping to get I was hoping to get a boxed

roll done this week Don't think that's gonna

happen as I'm reading a book for review right

now. I'm reading Vampire the Masquerade fifth

edition, so I should have a review of that Hopefully

this weekend on the twig main show cuz or wait

a second This premieres on Tuesdays, right, typically?

Yes. So you will have heard my review by this

point of that, and you will hear an upcoming

holiday or a going back to school gift guide.

Basically three things I think you need to survive

your first year of college because everybody

needs a piece of tech or some geekery to get

them through those first long hard weeks or frosh.

if you're a new student. So, anyway, that's pretty

much what I've got coming up on the show, the

twig usual stupidity that you've come to expect

from us. So until next time, for us here on Future

Imperfect, we pull back into the Starbase for

repair and refit. We have been... At World Phillips.

I've been Captain Mike the Birdman Dodd saying,

live long and prosper.