“Jean-Luc Picard is back”: will new Picard show eclipse Discovery?

It'll get more week-to-week publicity at launch, but I don't think it'll impact DSC all that much. For most its audience, I would imagine DSC has been a starting point into Star Trek's TV form, and will continue to be the main show.

 

Honestly, I expect the new show to be either CG or otherwise somehow animated, with Patrick Stewart doing voice work as Picard.

 

That's funny. If anything, it means that Star Trek on TV hasn't been this strong since the '90's - early '00's. And, might I add, this new Trek show almost surely owes it's existence to DSC's success. Had DSC flopped, CBS would likely have looked elsewhere for a show to bring in subscribers.

We're getting another Trek show. WOW!

 

Why on earth would they do a CGI when Stewart looks virtually identical to what he did 15 years ago? And why would he do voice work instead, considering his voice is the thing which has changed the most in that time. Not making sense, dude.

 

I do not think eclipse is the right word here. One will not block the other, as they will likely (almost certainly) air at different times. CBS wants Trekkies to keep their subscriptions going.

Actually I think the shows will help each other. Older fans of TNG will get a chance to dive back into Trek, and may give Disco a look as a result. New fans of Disco may tune into Picard to check out all the fuss.

Agree the Stewart's age will compensate for his earlier poor instincts on the character.

Insurrection is a much better movie than Nemesis. Though in many ways, both are truer to TNG Picard than Generations & First Contact.

But to answer directly, Picard will initially be more popular. If it lasts will depend on quality.

 

This is the Trek equivalent of Robert Downey Jr deciding to star in the next Netflix Marvel series.

That show could be Iron Fist, but it'll still get a LOT of publicity owing to who's in it. I'm expecting a different tone to Discovery although I'm already concerned it'll be Burnham speeches x10,000 coming out of Picard's mouth. We will see.

 

Does it, though? I was wondering whether CBS was looking at DSC thinking “this isn’t going as well as we’d hoped. What else do we have in our arsenal? What will bring in Trek fans (I.e. all access subscribers) in droves? Who do they like? Hey! What about Picard? There’s been a lot of discussion online about a post-tng era show. Why don’t we bring Picard back? That’ll hook the trekkers in!”

I know I’m being really cynical when I say that - and I hope that I’m wrong. Do we have figures anywhere that illustrate how successful DSC has been?

 

Yes, it does.

 

It could eclipse it and that might not be a good thing. If they do it wrong, people will complain about what has happened to Picard in a Luke Skywalker in TLJ kind of way. Much easier to dismiss "Discovery" if you don't like it or see it being in a alternate universe. Wait until more details start being released and watch the complaining sky rocket.

Jason

 

Please no. I hope Picard isn't turned into a bitter, disillusioned failure, like what happened to Luke.

 

Figures? No. The announcement of five new series' speaks for itself that Disco showed there's an interest in Trek which CBS are capitalising on is a pretty good indicator, though. Those Marvel Netflix shows wouldn't exist if Avengers was a flop.

 

I know, I have an evil sense of humour but that reads so funny!! I love how we use the word 'spry' for our oldies

 

I will say the same thing here I said when this question was asked about the mere possibility of new trek series coming out.

DSC season 2 is almost here already. DSC season 3 will probably be out already or else almost out before this new series even premieres. If DSC has found its footing by then, no new series could just magically make people forget it. If DSC hasn't found its footing by then, it would probably end up canceled regardless of any new series' popularity. Either way, the new series cannot seriously be expected to harm the pre-existing one.

Especially since this is not broadcast tv. Having more Trek shows on CBSAA - especially with different hooks, settings, etc - is by far the most obvious way to pull more scifi/trek fans into the platform. And once they sign up, they will probably check out all the shows that are available, because they've paid for them already anyway. And as a streaming platform, the number of people who watch 'first run' doesn't matter, only the total number of people who watch. Therefore, adding new shows is beneficial, not harmful.

 

Is that based on circumstantial evidence or is there anything to actually support the claim?

Don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to find fault with DSC - I’m actually hoping that DSC has been a runaway success. The more successful Star Trek is the better I say.

 

Fair points.

regarding Marvel though, I’d heard that Marvel has so much money they can just afford to make the shows anyway - regardless of declining audience numbers. I’m sure I read somewhere that was the case with “agents of shield”. I may well have misremembered / misinterpreted that, mind you!

 

So would it be an oversimplification to say that this could be analogous to the arrowverse setup?

I mean, I’ve never watched Arrow, but I do watch the flash, supergirl, and legends. I started watching black lightning but couldn’t get into it.

Maybe that’s what Trek needs to evolve into?

I only originally asked the question since DSC has been *ahem* somewhat polarising (at least here), and a Picard show may not have the same reaction. It makes me wonder whether CBS would continue to make the effort to make a show that has proved contentious (DSC) if they hit on a property that proves to be more successful (JLP).

 

While I think that the Picard series will be massively more popular, I really don't think it will really hurt Discovery, it will probably help it. People who who missed DIS initially might give it a chance once they're lured in by the Picard show.

 

I sure hope that the Picard show will outshine DIS!

Because let's be honest here: DIS is not really pulling mainstream audiences, big numbers or in any way being part of our current pop culture. It's a niché show, that very few people pay a LOT of money for to make it profitable enough to continue.

A Picard show has the benefit of mainstream attention right from the beginning. If it doesn't outshine DIS, the producers really fumbled it.

 

So did Discovery, it has the Star Trek branding. Plus, it had the novelty of being the first new Trek series in twelve years.

 

But it utterly failed at playing it's hand - the show looked nothing like either "Star Trek" OR a show mainstream audiences would have any interest in, didn't have any well-known stars in it and tried really hard to distance itself from the Star Trek brand. It's actually a major feat to f*ck up the return of Star Trek to screen this much, and it needed multiple things go wrong at the same time - behind the sceens rumble, multiple showrunners being fired, and the whole thing being branched out from the wrong premise ("reboot") while telling the audience the exact opposite, and a HUGE amount of backtracking eating up their creative freedom. Really, the most mundane sequel, a modern day "Voyager" if you will (or "the Orville") would have been a much bigger success at this point. The only reason this mess is still alive is because the name 'Star Trek' still is a strong draw.

The show had the potential to be a rocket, but the final product in the end it didn't took off but just kinda' fizzled out at the launch pad.

"Picard" is already alone a pretty big draw in nerd geekdom, but also in modern mainstream. The character is part of pop culture. More than the abstract concept of the Star Trek IP itself after it got diluded by a full and a partial reboot.