Spoilers An argument that the problem with the first two seasons was...

[El Maestro]

Oddly enough, if the production hadn't been forced by COVID into time traveling to modern day Earth, they likely would have remained in the 25th century for Season 2, kept the core Picarcd cast intact for Season 3, and just met other TNG characters along the way.

Is this documented anywhere or just an assumption? Not challenging you or anything, just wondering if this is yet another thing made weird by the pandemic.

 

[Dee1891]

... Patrick Stewart.

Before anyone starts writing angry comments, let's stipulate that Stewart is an amazing, legendary actor, and the character of Picard and Star Trek wouldn't be what it is today without his contribution towards it. But IGN has an interesting video which argues the big problem with the direction of Star Trek: Picard in its first two seasons was Stewart's instincts about where the story of the Picard character and the bigger universe should evolve.

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Reportedly, Stewart basically had 3 conditions for doing Star Trek: Picard.

1. No uniforms
2. No Enterprise
3. Not a TNG reunion

If you now look at season 3, it basically throws all of those conditions out the window, while also reversing everything season 1 intended to do. They didn't want the show to be a TNG reunion. Its become a TNG reunion. When you couple that with season 3 reversing the death of Data in season 1, gets rid of most of the characters from season 1, and had Riker and Troi making fun of their circumstances in season 1, it sorta seems like the powers that be, as well as Stewart, know how a huge chunk of the audience reacted to the first two seasons and are purposely going the other way.

Also, when it comes to Stewart's instincts for Picard, I do remember reading around the time of the TNG movies there were stories that Stewart pushed for the movies to feature a version of Picard that was more an action hero, instead of the cerebral speech-maker from the TV series. He wanted Picard to be the one that was in the middle of fights, carrying a phaser, and the driver of the action within the stories. That's why Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis all feature "final fights" where Stewart is face-to-face with the villains, or Picard driving a Starfleet dune buggy in the desert, or Picard having the love story with the Baku woman. And there's an argument to be had for sure of whether or not that worked or was a good choice.

I don't have a problem with Stewart's demands. Unlike others, I didn't enjoy the massive TNG reunion of this 3rd season. My problem with the series is that the writing for each season has never been able to sustain a good quality.

 

[NCC-73515]

Picard had a pit bull (with cut ears) only because SPS liked pit bulls so much and demanded one.
I think I read somewhere that he also pushed for the awful parents story in S2 because he had trouble with his parents.
His dad was very abusive, so Picard's dad was also made abusive, though that had a different spin in the story because he only tried to save his wife from self-harm.

 

[Tuskin38]

I think I read somewhere that he also pushed for the awful parents story in S2 because he had trouble with his parents.

Patrick said that wasn't true.

 

[Orac Zen]

The vast majority of viewers consider Disco to be a failed project.

These sorts of absolute declarative statements - never backed up with any sort of evidence whatsoever but always presented as definitive fact - are always amusing, in their own warped way.

I can’t take anything seriously after using the word “woke”.

Same here. The moment anyone uses that word - in its current, pejorative sense - I tune out.

 

[NCC-73515]

Patrick said that wasn't true.

"But to have the opportunity to have revealed the actual truth of what his childhood was like and how he had distorted the story in order to protect himself — I was brought up in a somewhat violent background, too, and I know how important it is to find reasons why things are happening."
https://screenrant.com/star-trek-picard-season-2-mother-stewart-explained/

"But a lot of it was to do not with my adulthood, but my childhood, and how I could come to terms with what I have often looked on as being failures in my life, to not to have helped my parents more. In the same way, Jean-Luc is troubled, and it has been extraordinary and interesting to weave elements of my own experience into that of a fictional character."
"If this sounds familiar ... well, that's because Patrick Stewart has been open about his own childhood trauma, and how he continues to grapple with it into his old age. Naturally, this gave Stewart the opportunity to bring his own troubled past, and his own healing process, in "Star Trek: Picard.""
https://www.slashfilm.com/782558/st...cs-interior-trauma-and-also-patrick-stewarts/

 

[Tuskin38]

I swear he said in an interview that it wasn't his idea to do the abusive childhood story, but he did bring his own experiences into the scenes either way.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I've written a lot about Terry Matalas today, and I still don't entirely trust his sensibilities, but I will give him credit for this:

https://twitter.com/TerryMatalas/status/1648424227916349441?s=20

 

[James Cole]

BTW, don't say Matalas took out the politics. Season 2 replaced Past Tense's message with one that focuses on industry and technology and that depicted immigrants as lawless thugs. This season is a metaphor for how social media turns young people into woke robots.

On the under 25 thing in 309...

Sean Tretta, the episode's co-writer, has a daughter that survived a school shooting, and is now a public activist around gun issues. I'd highly doubt he'd include something into his own episode that would demean the youth activism in his family.

Is this documented anywhere or just an assumption? Not challenging you or anything, just wondering if this is yet another thing made weird by the pandemic.

Terry Matalas joined in November or December 2019 and Michael Chabon had left in February 2020. I think Q and time travel were always part of the mix, as Chabon had drafted two episodes set in the Confederation timeline.

Some quotes from a SyFy article mid season two:

It's a little beat, but who came up with that great, efficient bit of exposition to address Q's age and appearance in Episode 1?
So I came on as they had just finished shooting Season 1, and they had started a little mini-room for Season 2. And that's when I when I came on, I was in a room with Akiva and Michael Chabon and a few others, and I said: "Well, do you guys have any ideas for Season 2?" And obviously, I had a trillion, right? [laughs]. And they said, "No, do you?" And I said: "Well, it's got to be Q. It's one of [Picard's] first relationships." And they were like, "Okay." Immediately, within five minutes, Akiva was like: "Okay, that makes sense. That's probably right for Picard." And then we said something about the aging, and I'm like, "Well, he would just appear how he was, and then Q would say something [to Picard]: 'Oh, I don't want you to feel so bad' and then he'd snap his fingers. So it was just it was just one of those things that sort of easily flowed right from the get go.

Was time travel something that was on the table before you got involved, or was that your idea?
Well, as you know, I have some experience with time travel [laughs]. You know, you always want Star Trek to reflect on the present day. And I had said something like: "Well, you can always do Voyage Home. If there is a reason that makes sense for them to come back in time. And I remember foolishly thinking that [doing a time travel story] would be less expensive and then COVID hit.

I can't imagine shooting a show with this many moving parts during a pandemic. But I am guessing it afforded you and the other writers some time for a 30,000 foot view of things, too.

It was challenging. In some ways, it gave us a little time to sort of re-examine some places we want to go, because there were a lot of ideas that, well, we can't really talk about because you would have to have seen the whole season to know, right? There were some ideas that we abandoned [...] initially, Michael Chabon wrote a two episode version of what was the second episode. Where we really lived in that world for longer and really went into it. For many reasons, we had to move away from that. But there were so many brilliant things that Michael had. The world building into that reality, that was extraordinary. But that sometimes, unfortunately, just ends up on the cutting room floor.

 

[Sketcher]

Who tf is Robert Meyer Burnett and why does his profile pic look exactly like you'd expect it to be?

 

[KennyB]

Who tf is Robert Meyer Burnett and why does his profile pic look exactly like you'd expect it to be?

If you don’t know…..be happy. Would take way too much time to break it down.

 

[NCC-73515]

I swear he said in an interview that it wasn't his idea to do the abusive childhood story, but he did bring his own experiences into the scenes either way.

It's easily possible he didn't have the idea initially but then added his experience to it after someone else said let's do a mommy suicide story

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Sean Tretta, the episode's co-writer, has a daughter that survived a school shooting, and is now a public activist around gun issues. I'd highly doubt he'd include something into his own episode that would demean the youth activism in his family.

In all likelihood, Tretta was not entrusted with creating the mechanism of the Borg plot. That's what the showrunner does.

 

[Mudd]

So? Fandom Menace is the only thing that can still save the franchise.

No. They're a waste of life.

SNW is promising in its very own contained timeframe. It is somewhat a reboot of TOS, has an episodic style. But it can’t shape Star Trek’s future because its setting is just too repetitive.

Who cares?

 

[CorporalClegg]

The writers have said otherwise. .

So?

 

[gvn2fly]

He only really worked on the first two episodes of season 2. Goldsman took over so Matalas could start work on season 3.

This isn't really true. This may be true from a filming sense but Matalas started working for the show developing season 2 in 2019 before season 1 even aired. Season 2 started filming in 2021. He has said the time travel and Q plots were his ideas and he pitched the Q plot to delancie. He was a major part of shaping the season. Many of season 3's writers also worked on season 2, including at least one writer he brought on board from 12 Monkeys.

 

[gvn2fly]

It's literally the first streaming Trek show to actually submit its numbers....


When did this poll happen? Did I miss it? Dammit!

Nostalgia wank! All day! Everyday! Member Berries for all!!

It's a heavy blow for Kurtzman that a show he produced is successful?

It's funny. If they don't like a show Kurtzman produces then it's his fault and he's a hack...even if he didn't actually write the episodes they hate. If they do like a show produces then it wasn't because of Kurtzman..since he didn't write the episodes they like.

 

[gvn2fly]

SNW is based on characters established in 1965, not STD. And that just leaves a future academy show that is little more than a press release at this point.

Yes, while Discovery season 2 was airing the fan demand for a followup of "The Cage" unaired pilot led to SNW - not the success of Discovery season 2 and 3 of its actors who ended up on SNW.

 

[gvn2fly]

Is this documented anywhere or just an assumption? Not challenging you or anything, just wondering if this is yet another thing made weird by the pandemic.

I'm not sure but it could be. Matalas said he pitched the time travel and Picard's version fo Star Trek IV shortly after when he came on board. He came on board in late 2019 and pandemic was in early 2020 obviously and they filmed in 2021. So it just depends on when he made that pitch. I also recall him saying that season 2 was difficult because the show had no standing sets other the La Sirena and Picard's house and set construction during the pandemic was difficult.

 

[gvn2fly]

Who tf is Robert Meyer Burnett and why does his profile pic look exactly like you'd expect it to be?

https://axanar.com/addressing-the-lies-of-robert-meyer-burnett-and-bill-hunt/

https://axanar.com/why-axanar-sued-robert-meyer-burnett/


He also complains about the typical "woke" type stuff in media.