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Will the Picard show address the 800 lb gorilla that is data's death?

As I understand it, the only characters that could be problematic are movie-sourced characters. Which for the TNG-era would basically be Soren (Generations), Lily Sloane and the Borg Queen (First Contact), Dougherty, Anij, Artim and the Son'a (Insurrection), and B4, Shinzon, Remans, and Tal'aura and Donatra (Nemesis).

However, the use of several of the above in STO would seem to argue to the contrary.
 
The notion that the new TV shows can't reference the movies is a myth that will not die. As far as I know, there is no actual embargo here. It's just something that armchair lawyers on the internet have concocted out of idle rumors and speculation.
Actually it stems from a quote from one of the Discovery writers during season one.

It's very worrying that the writers were not aware what stories they could and couldn't reference. I hope the current regime tells their staff what they are and aren't allowed to do and why.
 
I know one thing: Brent Spiner will not be playing Data or B4, unless they come up with some fanwank answer as to why he now looks like an old man.

He had great hair in All Good Things, why not go one stop further and say he wanted to look more respectable and distinguished with a beard and an older look?
 
They can use an element from films 1 to 10 with Paramount's permission. Films 11-13 (Kelvin films) the need permission from both Paramount and Bad Robot. If they wanted to use the Borg Queen, even though she was included in Voyager, she originated in First Contact so they would need to ask Paramount.

A merger of Paramount and CBS would obviously eliminate that need.
 
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While my first instinct is to let him remain dead, I did love the Waypoint comic where LaForge is captain of a future Enterprise which is crewed by endless holographic duplicates of his best friend Data, after his mind was downloaded from B4 into the Enterprise computer.

While Brent Spiner can't look like Data again without expensive CG, he can live on as the ship's computer voice, occasionally appearing as a blurry hologram or on a screen.
I wonder if they will take much from the countdown series
 
The notion that the new TV shows can't reference the movies is a myth that will not die. As far as I know, there is no actual embargo here. It's just something that armchair lawyers on the internet have concocted out of idle rumors and speculation.


Bo Yeon Kim said on a podcast that Discovery writers couldn't use anything from the movies, and this interview with Kurtzman seems to support that.

https://trekcore.com/blog/2019/01/kurtzman-kadin-picard-georgiou-shows-star-trek-discovery-season-3/

TREKCORE: With the upcoming Picard series now set after the destruction of Romulus, how much access with that show’s writers room have to other material from the Star Trek films?

ALEX KURTZMAN: Well since I wrote the 2009 film, I’m pretty familiar with it – but in terms of like, legality?

TREKCORE: Yeah, are you allowed to explore the film stuff, rights-wise?

KURTZMAN: I think we’ll see over the next couple of months. It’s a conversation. Obviously, it would be great; it’s all canon, right? So it’d be great to figure out a way to be consistent.
 
Bo Yeon Kim said on a podcast that Discovery writers couldn't use anything from the movies, and this interview with Kurtzman seems to support that.

https://trekcore.com/blog/2019/01/kurtzman-kadin-picard-georgiou-shows-star-trek-discovery-season-3/

The Kurtzman interview DOES NOT support that. In fact, it says "we're discussing it and we'll see".

TREKCORE: Yeah, are you allowed to explore the film stuff, rights-wise?

KURTZMAN: I think we’ll see over the next couple of months. It’s a conversation. Obviously, it would be great; it’s all canon, right? So it’d be great to figure out a way to be consistent.
 
The Kurtzman interview DOES NOT support that. In fact, it says "we're discussing it and we'll see".

I don't understand. He's saying he can't just use it easily, which is my point. Kurtzman is probably going to either get permission from Paramount or see if a merger happens soon (which has been speculated).

Bo Yeon Kim didn't hallucinate the directive given to the Discovery writers. This could mean that obtaining permission to use Paramount IP wasn't worth the effort and the cost at the time, whereas Kurtzman is willing to try with the Picard series. Maybe it was more difficult for season 1 Discovery because the CBS/Viacom situation was more contentious then than it is now.
 
Bo Yeon Kim said on a podcast that Discovery writers couldn't use anything from the movies, and this interview with Kurtzman seems to support that.
Did she specify which movies though? She could have meant specifically the Kelvin Timeline movies.

They have used art from the TOS movies, the Red Alert symbol, Earth Spacedock and the Ceti Eel are 3 I can think of right now. They also used a picture of Kronos One for placeholder in a Deleted Scene on the Blu-Ray.

But art might be different from story/characters.
 
I don't understand. He's saying he can't just use it easily, which is my point.

But he doesn't say that. He says "We're discussing it." Sure, you can interpret it as "We can't, but maybe...", but that's not the only conclusion. In my opinion, he's not being very specific on anything, so no real conclusions can be drawn.

As someone else pointed out, maybe he's referring to the Kelvinverse movies, since that's the context of the question. That is, he mentions his involvement with ST09, and the follow-up question is about using stuff from the movies (i.e. the Kelvinverse movies).
 
Did she specify which movies though? She could have meant specifically the Kelvin Timeline movies.

They have used art from the TOS movies, the Red Alert symbol, Earth Spacedock and the Ceti Eel are 3 I can think of right now. They also used a picture of Kronos One for placeholder in a Deleted Scene on the Blu-Ray.

But art might be different from story/characters.

She specifically said "all films."

Just because of the rights issue, we can’t use anything from the films, so that’s just something that we’re always aware of. ALL films, ’cause it’s a Paramount property, not CBS.
 
But he doesn't say that. He says "We're discussing it." Sure, you can interpret it as "We can't, but maybe...", but that's not the only conclusion. In my opinion, he's not being very specific on anything, so no real conclusions can be drawn.

I think if using the Romulan disaster was easy (or anything from the films, for that matter), Kurtzman would have said so. Instead he said "we'll see over the next couple of months." Interestingly, there's been speculation CBS and Viacom will at least announce a merger during the first or second quarter of this year. Is he waiting to see what happens with that?

As someone else pointed out, maybe he's referring to the Kelvinverse movies, since that's the context of the question. That is, he mentions his involvement with ST09, and the follow-up question is about using stuff from the movies (i.e. the Kelvinverse movies).

The question to Kurtzman refers broadly to the "films," and Kim said the Discovery writers had to stay away from ALL the films.
 
I think if using the Romulan disaster was easy (or anything from the films, for that matter), Kurtzman would have said so.

There is obviously some misinformation floating around. One one hand, we hear "Can't use stuff from movies", while on the other hand, we hear "Picard series is set after the destruction of Romulus, which will play an integral role in shaping Picard for the series". So, can they use movie material or not? If not, then the central premise of the series can't be motivated by something from the movies.

The question to Kurtzman refers broadly to the "films," and Kim said the Discovery writers had to stay away from ALL the films.

Well, forgive me for not taking the word of one newbie writer as gospel. What's to say she doesn't understand the situation clearly?
 
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There is obviously some misinformation floating around. One one hand, we hear "Can't use stuff from movies", while on the other hand, we hear "Picard series is set after the destruction of Romulus, which will play an integral role in shaping Picard for the series". So, can they use movie material or not? If not, then the central premise of the series can't be something from the movies.

Well, if you want to be specific, Kurtzman's quote to THR was "Picard's life was radically altered by the dissolution of the Romulan Empire." No quotes from him refer to the disaster in that interview. It's just inferred in the article text. When TrekCore asked Kurtzman more specifically about using the disaster and other things from films, the answer was "we'll see in the next couple of months."

Well, forgive me for not taking the word of one newbie writer as gospel. What's to say she doesn't understand the situation clearly? I'd sooner believe @Greg Cox , who likely has decades of experience with these legal things.

Yeah I knew this was going to come down to "oh the young woman must be imagining things." Why can't Greg be wrong and the actual Discovery writer (now producer, and hopeful future S31 showrunner), be right? Greg obviously wasn't aware of what she said.
 
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