Star Trek Picard is not Star Trek

[Bad Thoughts]

Nana Visitor was on the last episode of Inglorious Treksperts podcast. According to her, the intense shooting schedule--26 episodes, sometimes up to 20 hours a day--was responsible for the death of a member of the filming crew. He fell asleep at the wheel after a long day of shooting. Visitor herself said that she had done the same.

If you love Star Trek, you have to give up on the breadth and the variety of the Berman era. People could not keep up with the schedule. It must change. At least with 10-15 episodes, there is room to develop character beyond what happens in the movies, and the stories can be more complex.

 

[cooleddie74]

15 is a happy medium for both production crew and audiences.

 

[Sir Stewart Wallace]

Nana Visitor was on the last episode of Inglorious Treksperts podcast. According to her, the intense shooting schedule--26 episodes, sometimes up to 20 hours a day--was responsible for the death of a member of the filming crew. He fell asleep at the wheel after a long day of shooting. Visitor herself said that she had done the same.

Well, that obviously sucks and no TV show is worth dying for. But I don't think that's as much the fault of the format as it is unfair and stupid working conditions. Reduce an executive's salary by a few thousand bucks, and hire another key grip. Problem solved. Or go down to 24 episodes. Lighten the load a bit. It's no reason to throw the episodic baby out with the episodic bathwater.

If you love Star Trek, you have to give up on the breadth and the variety of the Berman era. People could not keep up with the schedule. It must change. At least with 10-15 episodes, there is room to develop character beyond what happens in the movies, and the stories can be more complex.

I shan't. I won't! One anecdote, sad as it may be, is not going to convince me that episodic Trek needs to be Old Yeller'ed. Honestly, it's a little histrionic. Episodic "prestige" TV will return, and I hope Trek takes advantage of that format once again.

Without any fatalities, of course.

 

[fireproof78]

They're just different. And that's okay.

Yes. I would never argue one is better than the other. I just prefer one.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Reduce an executive's salary by a few thousand bucks, and hire another key grip. Problem solved.

What about a 79 year old man? Should he work for 16+ hours every day, for 46 weeks?

 

[Hythlodeus]

What about a 79 year old man? Should he work for 16+ hours every day, for 46 weeks?

a person that age should be retired with no need to work anyway

 

[cooleddie74]

He works to better himself and hu...

oh.

 

[Sir Stewart Wallace]

What about a 79 year old man? Should he work for 16+ hours every day, for 46 weeks?

No one should do that. But if you're suggesting that actors in the pre-serialized days worked 46 weeks straight, with 16 hour days every day, I'd have to say I'm a tad...skeptical of that claim. Considering that 24+ episode seasons of television are still currently being shot and actors and crew aren't keeling over left and right from exhaustion, I'd have to say you're overstating your case a little bit.

I'm not suggesting Trek actors and crew be worked to the bone to give me a full season's order. I don't even care if every actor is in every episode (but they often do). I believe in fair working conditions and all that jazz. But if actors and crew are up to the admittedly grueling schedule of a full season, and everyone is getting paid, I'm going to enjoy that product. And I think it will be back, even in Trek form. I hope so, anyway.

Now MUSH, actors! Entertain me with 26 unique stories per week or face the lash!

 

[urbandk]

Thinking about starting a new thread, "Star Trek Picard is not Star Wars"

 

[Bad Thoughts]

No one should do that. But if you're suggesting that actors in the pre-serialized days worked 46 weeks straight, with 16 hour days every day, I'd have to say I'm a tad...skeptical of that claim.

Take it up with Ms. Visitor. Although not an actor, RDM says that there was only a month long break between seasons.

 

[SJGardner]

Thinking about starting a new thread, "Star Trek Picard is not Star Wars"

And a "Star Trek: Picard is not Game of Thrones", just to offer a final and definitive rebuttal of all this "Narek and Rizzo are totally boning each other" bullcrap

 

[cooleddie74]

"Star Trek: Picard is not Mel Tormé!"

 

[Sir Stewart Wallace]

And a "Star Trek: Picard is not Game of Thrones", just to offer a final and definitive rebuttal of all this "Narek and Rizzo are totally boning each other" bullcrap

Nah, Michael Chabon can actually write decent endings. Totally different.

 

[SJGardner]

Star Trek: Picard is not Brian and neither is my wife.

 

[Hythlodeus]

Star Trek: Picard is not Brian and neither is my wife.

but Brophy is

 

[The Wormhole]

Although not an actor, RDM says that there was only a month long break between seasons.

Assuming RDM means Ron Moore, I suspect he was referring to the behind the scenes work. The actors definitely got more than a month off. IIRC, they usually got three months off with filming of one season ending around late March/early April and the next season beginning filming in July. At least that's how I remember it when Enterprise was in production when Paramount would released official production reports following the end of filming of each episode. I doubt it was much different on TNG, DS9 or Voyager.

 

[ThreeEdgedSword]

Nana Visitor was on the last episode of Inglorious Treksperts podcast. .

Thanks for the info, didn't know that podcast. Very nice interview.

Nah, Michael Chabon can actually write. Totally different.

Fixed that for you!
PS: Nevertheless, I DO think they are at least alluding to that Lannister incest thing which has been strangely popular among GoT fans. I hope it will remain subtext.

 

[Raptor_Fawr]

I really, really can't wait until the pendulum swings back towards episodic TV, and I hope that Star Trek: The Generation After That is made during that time. I like serialized television, be it meh (DSC), good (PIC), or great (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, anything with Walton Goggins in it). But I also like episodic TV. I will not banish TOS or Berman Trek to the dust bin of history because they weren't "ten hour movies" or "novels as television." Each format has its advantages. In my opinion, DSC and PIC don't represent some incredible quantum leap in quality over TOS, TNG, DS9, and VOY (ENT, yes). They're just different. And that's okay.

Agree to some extent. ENT to me looks like a good prototype for a The Nextest Generation type of show: in season 2 and 3 you had this ongoing plot of the Sulibans and the Xindi but they still roamed the galaxy pointlessy for a lotvof episodes before engaging combat for a 3 episodes mini arc, and then they went back to exploring more

 

[DaveyNY]

NO! Stagnation is the only way to remain pure!!!!!

I haven't been 'pure' since I was about 15.

 

[DaveyNY]

My favourite James Dixon post was when he started off a response to someone with "I've been studying Treknology for thirty years..."

But he'd been mostly studying the bumps on is head.