These streaming Star Treks are funded by subscriptions instead of adverts, so showing two new overlapping series at once is a massive waste of money for them if they've already got Trek fans to subscribe for one series.
News Discovery renewed, Picard and Strange New Worlds premiere dates
- Thread starter Aragorn
- Start date
^This. If possible they'd like Trek all year to keep those subscribers.
Lies perpetrated by corporate shills! Everyone capable of thinking for themselves knows all current Star Trek shows have been cancelled and Kurtzman has been fired!
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My assumption was that this was actually the confirmation this season of Disco was only 11 episodes, and not 13, as had been rumored (11 episodes would have the Disco finale the Picard premiere on the same day, which is seemingly the same thing they're doing with the Picard finale and the SNW premiere)
Would love to be wrong, though!
But even then, they were never making more than 52 episodes a season, which is essentially the same episode output we've achieved now.
The only thing that's going to drive me crazy about this is if Prodigy never streams for more than 5 episodes at a time. That is a bit too naked a confession that they don't feel that show is capable of retaining the subscribers.
IIRC, thirteen episodes was very recently officially confirmed.
Oh, that's great news! Glad to hear it, pacing-wise this season really feels like it needs the full 13.
They are also (partially) funded by adverts, according to my poor man's basic subscription to Paramount Plus. But the diversification of Star Trek products might be an explanation here. We're for the most part fanatics who watch everything, but the audience for Prodigy and the audience for Lower Decks and the audience for Picard don't always overlap. There's a Venn Diagram somewhere that's being consulted and analyzed.
Overlapping shows is also a result of a glut of programming. It seems that Paramount Plus is trying to build a large library of original programming, to compete with all these other services, and Star Trek just happens to be their most successful brand. Since, as we all know, truly original ideas are persona non grata in today's marketplace.
Once the library is complete, or at least P+ is successful enough, Star Trek offerings will trickle down again (but probably never go away). If Paramount Plus ever folds, all the Star Trek shows will transfer over to whichever service buys their library. Probably in the next decade or so, we'll get down to one active series again.
Levels of excitement and "why"
1. PIC S2
I'm excited for this because I think S1 had the potential to be the best season of Star Trek since TOS...but they definitely failed to stick the landing in a massively satisfying way. I didn't hate it as much as others...but it didn't meet the expectations that were build up from an otherwise very well-done season. I'm excited to see the direction they take these characters in and how they will grow together as a family.
2. DIS S4/S5
I like DIS a lot. It's fallen off a little the last two seasons in terms of my personal tastes. I think it's suffered from the idea that the components and characters were tailored for the arc of the first season. It seems the further away they get from S1, the harder it is to make stuff logically fit. Still- it's a lot of fun and I'm curious to see how it continues. I think the stories have gotten weaker but the writing itself has gotten more consistent...so go figure.
3. PRO S1 Continuation
This has been a huge surprise to me. PRO is a lot of fun, has a huge heart, looks gorgeous, is family-appropriate, and has done a nice job of capturing the Star Trek spirit while using a format that is different/bold enough for it to feel fresh and interesting. I'm absolutely shocked that I've put this ahead of SNW...but here we are. It's been a great little show.
4. SNW S1
I loved Pike, Number One, Spock and the Enterprise in DSC S2. It's been a while since we've seen everyone. I think this can be exciting, but I'm very worried about it just being "yet another episodic adventure aboard a starship" show...as we have 600 episodes of that already (TOS, TAS, TNG, VOY, ENT)...not to mention the same format being adapted on LD currently, and gravitated toward on DSC over the last 2 seasons. Heck, even The Orville uses the same format, even though it's not part of the franchise. It won't hold my interest for long if it's yet another copy of a copy of a copy of a copy.
5. LD S3
I will continue to watch LD as long as it airs, because it's a fun little watch. But, that said, I really don't care about it one way or another. It's frenetic and derivative to the point of exhaustion, and it gives me a physical head ache half the time I watch it. It's wildly uneven (makes DSC's first two seasons look like TOS S2 in terms of consistency), in that some of the episodes are 8/9 caliber, and others are 3/4 caliber. It also doesn't help that I'm generally not a fan of animated stuff. I watch for the references and easter eggs primarily. Don't really care about any of the characters or stories much (except I do like Rutherford). It's also "solo Trek" for me, which impacts my enjoyment (not even my wife will watch this one...so I'm generally watching it by myself).
1. PIC S2
I'm excited for this because I think S1 had the potential to be the best season of Star Trek since TOS...but they definitely failed to stick the landing in a massively satisfying way. I didn't hate it as much as others...but it didn't meet the expectations that were build up from an otherwise very well-done season. I'm excited to see the direction they take these characters in and how they will grow together as a family.
2. DIS S4/S5
I like DIS a lot. It's fallen off a little the last two seasons in terms of my personal tastes. I think it's suffered from the idea that the components and characters were tailored for the arc of the first season. It seems the further away they get from S1, the harder it is to make stuff logically fit. Still- it's a lot of fun and I'm curious to see how it continues. I think the stories have gotten weaker but the writing itself has gotten more consistent...so go figure.
3. PRO S1 Continuation
This has been a huge surprise to me. PRO is a lot of fun, has a huge heart, looks gorgeous, is family-appropriate, and has done a nice job of capturing the Star Trek spirit while using a format that is different/bold enough for it to feel fresh and interesting. I'm absolutely shocked that I've put this ahead of SNW...but here we are. It's been a great little show.
4. SNW S1
I loved Pike, Number One, Spock and the Enterprise in DSC S2. It's been a while since we've seen everyone. I think this can be exciting, but I'm very worried about it just being "yet another episodic adventure aboard a starship" show...as we have 600 episodes of that already (TOS, TAS, TNG, VOY, ENT)...not to mention the same format being adapted on LD currently, and gravitated toward on DSC over the last 2 seasons. Heck, even The Orville uses the same format, even though it's not part of the franchise. It won't hold my interest for long if it's yet another copy of a copy of a copy of a copy.
5. LD S3
I will continue to watch LD as long as it airs, because it's a fun little watch. But, that said, I really don't care about it one way or another. It's frenetic and derivative to the point of exhaustion, and it gives me a physical head ache half the time I watch it. It's wildly uneven (makes DSC's first two seasons look like TOS S2 in terms of consistency), in that some of the episodes are 8/9 caliber, and others are 3/4 caliber. It also doesn't help that I'm generally not a fan of animated stuff. I watch for the references and easter eggs primarily. Don't really care about any of the characters or stories much (except I do like Rutherford). It's also "solo Trek" for me, which impacts my enjoyment (not even my wife will watch this one...so I'm generally watching it by myself).
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Wait.. how many episodes are left for Discovery? I doubt they’d overlap with Picard…
Six episodes left, three overlapping with Picard.
As someone who's also a fan of Picard, I don't like the idea of the season premiere being pushed from the original promise of February 2022. But a few days after February ends, that's not so bad, all things considered.
I get to watch new episodes from both of my favorite non-TOS Star Trek shows for a few weeks. I'll take it.
According to Trekcore, the final episode of Picard S2 will overlap with SNW episode 1, so overlap to keep people watching new shows seems to be a thing.
No problem, always happy to help. The second season order renewal was for an additional 20 episodes, so we’re going to be getting a whole lot of Prodigy.
And it’s been really good so far, I hope you enjoy it when you get a chance to check it out!
You remember correctly. The official WGA entry for this season has 13 different episodes listed with their individual writing credits, and then this weekend Wilson Cruz mentioned it on Facebook.
True! Though they do seem to be keeping them mostly separate, it’s nice to have a little overlap. Even though I get, and on a level really appreciate them spreading it out so we get weekly Trek all year, I’m also not going to complain about occasionally having multiple episodes in a single week!
I don't think it's about avoiding overlapping so much as it's about having no gaps.
Yeah they probably want to avoid people temporarily dropping Paramount+ between the Star Trek show.
Especially since, for one reason or another a temporary drop can become a long-term one.
I think you’re right, though with Kurtzman saying they won’t add another series until one of these five ends, wanting to have no gaps also means little to no overlaps. I even said in the post above, I think the purpose is so they have new content every week of the year.
I don't think Strange New Worlds will be much like Lower Decks, not even in format. LD wants to put the main focus on TNG-style B-stories. If SNW wants to -- in any way -- feel like TOS (which is what I assume they're trying to go for), it's not going to focus on those. They'll both be episodic, and that's pretty much where I think the similarities will end. Still doesn't solve the "copy of a copy of a copy" problem, but we'll see.
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Lower Decks is also primarily a comedy (yes it is often also genuinely good adventure and character development , but it will always primarily be a comedy with meta-humour)
SNW on the other hand will, most likely be a much more straightforward action-adventure show.
That is enough to give each of those shows their own identity.
SNW on the other hand will, most likely be a much more straightforward action-adventure show.
That is enough to give each of those shows their own identity.
One of the things I'd love to see with SNW, if they are indeed looking to go back to more "TOS-influenced" formats, is to have the stories be muchmore influenced by science fiction and less by "the Star Trek universe." What I mean by that is that TOS was the original, so it had both the advantage and disadvantage of being written in a less-than-fully-formed universe. So, the stories were more the sci-fi adventure/puzzle/mystery of the week, as opposed to the "let's explore the Star Trek universe" story of the week. The ship and crew were more of a way of telling sci-fi anthology stories than they were anything else. Some of this was probably also due to the fact that prominent science fiction authors wrote stories...so they were thinking "sci-fi story" first, and "Star Trek universe" second.
Also, I'd like to see them do the character development stuff well, but without that development relying on soap-operatic mechanisms.
I would love to see this approach with SNW, but I'm not sure that's what we'll get. Still...it's nice to have hopes.
I think the only thing that concerns me about these announcements is the over-saturation. This is Star Trek on every week, but I prefer to be left wanting more every so often. It keeps things fresh and interesting, and it keeps the excitement level high. However, out of habit and curiosity I will watch it all and hopefully it will be enjoyable most, if not all, the time. In terms of ranking my level of excitement:
1. Prodigy (Final 20 episodes of Season 1) - Prodigy is the series that has surprised me the most. Maybe it's the fact that I just saw Clone Wars and Rebels and really liked that style of animation, but this was advertised as a Kids show and it's the one Trek series I can't wait till Wednesday Night (I get Star Trek at about 11:00 PM Wednesday Evenings, west coast time) to watch.
2. Lower Decks - That was a great cliffhanger and my excitement for animated Trek is a lot better than the live action shows at the moment.
3. Discovery Season 5 - I came into Discovery Season 4 wishing that the show would end soon. I didn't really like the trailers but I watched and it wasn't too bad. The last 2 episodes though has changed my opinion on Season 4, especially the Zora storyline. Really looking forward to how that continues to develop.
4. Strange New World - I like Anson Mount and I like Ethan Peck. One of the worst things about Discovery going into the 32nd century was leaving the 23rd century behind when it was getting interesting (I liked season 2 of Discovery, minus the Control arc). I wouldn't even mind seeing Ash Tyler again.
5. Picard Season 2 - I'm worried they are going to ruin Q. I still don't like what happened in Episode 5 with Icheb and the ending of the season left a lot to be desired. Still, hopefully Season 2 is better.
1. Prodigy (Final 20 episodes of Season 1) - Prodigy is the series that has surprised me the most. Maybe it's the fact that I just saw Clone Wars and Rebels and really liked that style of animation, but this was advertised as a Kids show and it's the one Trek series I can't wait till Wednesday Night (I get Star Trek at about 11:00 PM Wednesday Evenings, west coast time) to watch.
2. Lower Decks - That was a great cliffhanger and my excitement for animated Trek is a lot better than the live action shows at the moment.
3. Discovery Season 5 - I came into Discovery Season 4 wishing that the show would end soon. I didn't really like the trailers but I watched and it wasn't too bad. The last 2 episodes though has changed my opinion on Season 4, especially the Zora storyline. Really looking forward to how that continues to develop.
4. Strange New World - I like Anson Mount and I like Ethan Peck. One of the worst things about Discovery going into the 32nd century was leaving the 23rd century behind when it was getting interesting (I liked season 2 of Discovery, minus the Control arc). I wouldn't even mind seeing Ash Tyler again.
5. Picard Season 2 - I'm worried they are going to ruin Q. I still don't like what happened in Episode 5 with Icheb and the ending of the season left a lot to be desired. Still, hopefully Season 2 is better.
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