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New Picard SDCC Trailer

So many are speculating that the android in the drawer must be Data. Folks, Data was standing 3 feet from a fusion explosion that atomized a very large spacecraft. He was RIGHT NEXT to the explosion. That wouldn't just blow off his head and arms for Geordi to tape back on later. Data's sacrifice would be completely negated if he somehow miraculously survives. We MUST be seeing the B4. Spiner's comment about playing Data must refer to a hologram or an upgrade to the B4. Personally, I'm betting that Data is downloaded from the B4 into a holodeck of some kind because he has some vital info that Picard needs. That tech would have come a long way since the EMH and Vic Fontaine.
On the other hand...
This is Nemesis we're talking about. If it its reset somehow, what is the big loss?
 
From the TV Line interview:

TV line interviewer: "We've gotten confirmation that your playing Data not B4."

Spiner: "Correct so, although, I think in that draw is B4, but I don't want to ... (shakes his hands in the air). But ya, no, Data is indeed on the show."



It could be Lore for 2 reasons though.

- We know Lore was disassembled, but we don't now if he was on the Ent-D when it blew up and saucer crashed in Generations, n confirmation that your playing Data not B4."

Spiner: "Correct so, although, I think in that draw is B4, but I don't want to ... (shakes his hands in the air). But ya, no, Data is indeed on the show."



It could be Lore for 2 reasons though.

could be held at a Starbase some where for all we know.

- Also the android is the draw had dark marks on his chest (right shoulder blade and left breast are) that could be burn marks from when Data shot him is Decent Pt2.

datadraw.jpg



IMO: I have always speculated since Nemesis that we knew B4 did not have enough positronic development to support Data's mind, but Lore does. Just wipe our Lores mind and down Data's memories from B4 to Lore's blank mind. That's probably not the case here, but it sounded like a good idea. ;)

I hope it's Lore.
 
I don’t know; I think I kind of enjoy “whimsically naive” Brent Spiner more than I enjoy “scenery chewing” Brent Spiner.
 
Anyone listen to the podcast by Robert Meyer Burnett where he discusses Fuller's supposedly very similar pitch for a Picard show? According to Burnett it was very similar and he also says that several other concepts were used in Discovery (notably the concept for Section 31's Control coming from a David Mack story) without accreditation.

For one, I don't think I really trust what he is reporting but I wonder if anyone has any kind of confirmation.

Second, if the description of what Fuller pitched is accurate, it makes me further think that much/most of what Fuller developed/pitched for Trek was just wrong. For example, supposedly Data in command of the rescue effort uses Borg technology and ex-Borg to rescue Romulans but they misinterpret it as being assimilated and Data is accused of insufficient compassion for biological beings and it brings him into conflict with Picard. This is perhaps 100% the opposite of Data's character and I just can't see it even being considered.

So, any confirmations? Thoughts?
 
So, full disclosure, I say this as someone whose favorite character on TNG was Data, and who still hasn't seen Nemesis because she spoiled herself regarding his death by reading the novelization and watching the movie would make it more "real".

Data came on screen and I went "yikes". He looks terrible in this, like someone made a shitty Data mask and pulled it over a face with the wrong bone structure. And this is a shot they felt confident to show in the trailer.

Brent Spiner is 70 years old. If Data -- whose relationship with Picard was so essential to who Picard is as a person -- is going to be in this show, he's going to look a bit different than he did when George H.W. Bush was president.

Get over it.

As for the rest, ugh the Borg again? Haven't we ridden this horse to death?

The last time we saw the Borg was in the ENT episode "Regeneration," which aired on 7 May 2003. The last time we saw the Borg in anything other than a one-off was the VOY series finale "Endgame, Part II," which aired on 23 May 2001. A child born the day "Regeneration" aired is old enough to have a driver's license; a child born the day "Endgame, Part II" is a legal adult with the right to vote. An entire generation has passed since the last time we saw the Borg.

And we don't know if this show will actually be about the Borg per se. These stories can be about the impact the Borg have had on other cultures, without being about the Borg themselves.

That Seven of Nine bit... after two seasons of Michael Burnham I'd forgotten what on screen personality looked like. Thank you Jeri Ryan

1) Sonequa Martin-Green's performance as a human caught between Earth and Vulcan is pitch-perfect.

2) I'm up for the changes to her personality after almost twenty years, but the Seven we see in the PIC trailer has mannerisms and speech patterns that are almost entirely different from the Seven of VOY. Her grammar is less prescriptivist, her mannerisms are more overtly emotional, her enunciation is more casual. It's a very different personality than we saw in VOY.

3) Seven on VOY and Burnahm on DIS definitely have similar personality patterns.

Only problem with that is that I hate the aging program nonsense with a burning passion. It's a cop out because having a human play a character that should be ageless over extended periods of time will get awkward down the line. But it makes no sense for Data to have an aging program and it just breaks my immersion/suspension of disbelief.

Edited to add: It makes perfect sense for Data to have an aging program, because he is endeavoring to be more Human. What you mean is that him having an aging program violates your pre-conceived notions about what an android should be like and that you are unable to accept creative decisions that are logical outcomes of the creative intent behind the character, if those decisions violate your pre-conceived notions. End edit.

You know what happened in that writer's room on day one.

"What's the most popular TNG episode?"

"Picard..Borg"

"What's the most popular tng movie?"

"Picard..Borg"

"Ok. Let's do a story about..."

Kirsten Beyer is a wonderful novelist whose VOY novels captured the spirit of the show while elevating it to new levels of depth and sophistication.

Michael Chabon is one of the most accomplished writers of his generation. He is the recipient of the 1999 O. Henry Award Third Prize for "Son of the Wolfman," the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and a PEN/Faulkner Award finalist for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (a novel about the early years of the comic book industry, anti-Semitism in the U.S., and the rise of fascism in Europe), the recipient of the 2008 Nebula Award for Best Novel and 2008 Hugo Award for Best Novel, both for The Yiddish Policeman's Union, and is a 2012 inductee to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

You have no fucking idea what you're talking about and you should look up who these writers are and what their accomplishments are before you pretend you do.

Surrounding Picard with good looking younger actors is yet another attempt to make Star Trek "cool". (They've been trying to make it cool for almost 20 years. It always fails).

Dude, it's 2019. Look around you. A superhero movie just became the highest-grossing film of all time unadjusted for inflation. Comic book conventions are major cultural events. Star Trek's various shows are some of the highest-rated shows on any streaming service.

We have long, long since passed the point where anyone gives a damn about making Star Trek "cool" as though the world is still divided up into nerds and jocks.

The show was the idea of acclaimed Trek novelist Kirsten Beyer (famous for her beloved and best-selling post-series Voyager novels), and is being showran by Hugo, Nebula and Pulitzer winning author Michael Chabon.

Beyer, Alex Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman met with Stewart, who took the meeting with the intention of turning the project down but was intrigued enough by their discussion to ask them for a three-page document outlining Beyer's ideas. Goldsman then invited Chabon to work on the project as well and the four ultimately produced a 34-page document that they sent to Stewart. Needless to say, he loved it.

In Beyer and Chabon I trust. This looks amazing.

This.

TPTB do seem determined to ram the "franchise killers" (now Nemesis too) down our throats.

"That thing you hated? It's really important to what we're doing now. Learn to love it."

Sounds a bit paranoid, but I wouldn't be too surprised if there are mandates from above to maximize value of underperforming parts of the franchise by featuring it prominently.

Yes, this is definitely what Strauss Zelnick and Joseph Ianniello, Interim Chair of the Board and President and Acting CEO respectively of a publicly-owned corporation with revenues of over $14.514 billion and total assets of $21.86 billion, with almost 13,000 employees across five divisions and 13 subdivisions, definitely go to bed thinking about: How to punish customers whose money they need for not enjoying a movie made when George W. Bush was president and Ally McBeal was still on the air. You are not being the least bit ridiculous in thinking this.

Edited to add:


Anyone listen to the podcast by Robert Meyer Burnett where he discusses Fuller's supposedly very similar pitch for a Picard show? According to Burnett it was very similar and he also says that several other concepts were used in Discovery (notably the concept for Section 31's Control coming from a David Mack story) without accreditation.

When Trek novelists sign on to write such a novel, it's work-for-hire -- they hand over ownership of any characters or concepts from the novel to CBS. Mack was a consultant to the DIS writers and is friends with DIS staff writer Kirsten Beyer, and he's been hired as a consultant on the new Lower Decks show. This is not plagiarism and he has not indicated any problem with their use of the Control concept.

So, any confirmations? Thoughts?

My only thought is: Who the fuck is Robert Meyer Burnett and why should his inaccurate understanding the situation matter to anyone?
 
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Brent Spiner is 70 years old. If Data -- whose relationship with Picard was so essential to who Picard is as a person -- is going to be in this show, he's going to look a bit different than he did when George H.W. Bush was president.

Get over it.



The last time we saw the Borg was in the ENT episode "Regeneration," which aired on 7 May 2003. The last time we saw the Borg in anything other than a one-off was the VOY series finale "Endgame, Part II," which aired on 23 May 2001. A child born the day "Regeneration" aired is old enough to have a driver's license; a child born the day "Endgame, Part II" is a legal adult with the right to vote. An entire generation has passed since the last time we saw the Borg.

And we don't know if this show will actually be about the Borg per se. These stories can be about the impact the Borg have had on other cultures, without being about the Borg themselves.



1) Sonequa Martin-Green's performance as a human caught between Earth and Vulcan is pitch-perfect.

2) I'm up for the changes to her personality after almost twenty years, but the Seven we see in the PIC trailer has mannerisms and speech patterns that are almost entirely different from the Seven of VOY. Her grammar is less prescriptivist, her mannerisms are more overtly emotional, her enunciation is more casual. It's a very different personality than we saw in VOY.

3) Seven on VOY and Burnahm on DIS definitely have similar personality patterns.



Edited to add: It makes perfect sense for Data to have an aging program, because he is endeavoring to be more Human. What you mean is that him having an aging program violates your pre-conceived notions about what an android should be like and that you are unable to accept creative decisions that are logical outcomes of the creative intent behind the character, if those decisions violate your pre-conceived notions. End edit.



Kirsten Beyer is a wonderful novelist whose VOY novels captured the spirit of the show while elevating it to new levels of depth and sophistication.

Michael Chabon is one of the most accomplished writers of his generation. He is the recipient of the 1999 O. Henry Award Third Prize for "Son of the Wolfman," the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and a PEN/Faulkner Award finalist for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (a novel about the early years of the comic book industry, anti-Semitism in the U.S., and the rise of fascism in Europe), the recipient of the 2008 Nebula Award for Best Novel and 2008 Hugo Award for Best Novel, both for The Yiddish Policeman's Union, and is a 2012 inductee to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

You have no fucking idea what you're talking about and you should look up who these writers are and what their accomplishments are before you pretend you do.



Dude, it's 2019. Look around you. A superhero movie just became the highest-grossing film of all time unadjusted for inflation. Comic book conventions are major cultural events. Star Trek's various shows are some of the highest-rated shows on any streaming service.

We have long, long since passed the point where anyone gives a damn about making Star Trek "cool" as though the world is still divided up into nerds and jocks.



This.



Yes, this is definitely what Strauss Zelnick and Joseph Ianniello, Interim Chair of the Board and President and Acting CEO respectively of a publicly-owned corporation with revenues of over $14.514 billion and total assets of $21.86 billion, with almost 13,000 employees across five divisions and 13 subdivisions, definitely go to bed thinking about: How to punish customers whose money they need for not enjoying a movie made when George W. Bush was president and Ally McBeal was still on the air. You are not being the least bit ridiculous in thinking this.

Edited to add:




When Trek novelists sign on to write such a novel, it's work-for-hire -- they hand over ownership of any characters or concepts from the novel to CBS. Mack was a consultant to the DIS writers and is friends with DIS staff writer Kirsten Beyer, and he's been hired as a consultant on the new Lower Decks show. This is not plagiarism and he has not indicated any problem with their use of the Control concept.



My only thought is: Who the fuck is Robert Meyer Burnett and why should his inaccurate understanding the situation matter to anyone?
Damn...just damn.

Mic drop?
 
...Edited to add:

When Trek novelists sign on to write such a novel, it's work-for-hire -- they hand over ownership of any characters or concepts from the novel to CBS. Mack was a consultant to the DIS writers and is friends with DIS staff writer Kirsten Beyer, and he's been hired as a consultant on the new Lower Decks show. This is not plagiarism and he has not indicated any problem with their use of the Control concept.

My only thought is: Who the fuck is Robert Meyer Burnett and why should his inaccurate understanding the situation matter to anyone?

Apparently he worked on Free Enterprise, consulted with Paramount on some Trek related things, and knows Bryan Fuller. Other than that and that he has a podcast, I don't really know him. But it is good to hear that his proclamations are probably less than reliable.
 
Apparently he worked on Free Enterprise, consulted with Paramount on some Trek related things, and knows Bryan Fuller. Other than that and that he has a podcast, I don't really know him. But it is good to hear that his proclamations are probably less than reliable.

I mean, it's also just basic logic: Bryan Fuller is not the most powerful person in Hollywood, but he is rich and critically-respected, and CBS stealing his pitch to make PIC would be a clear violation of the Writers' Guild of America contract rules. Fuller would absolutely have the money and the clout to sue CBS for plagiarism if this allegation were legit, and he has the press connections to get CBS bad publicity for it to boot. Burnett sounds like he's full of shit to me.
 
TPTB do seem determined to ram the "franchise killers" (now Nemesis too) down our throats.

"That thing you hated? It's really important to what we're doing now. Learn to love it."

Sounds a bit paranoid, but I wouldn't be too surprised if there are mandates from above to maximize value of underperforming parts of the franchise by featuring it prominently.
you mentioned "x-men days of future past" before. that movie wouldn't have the impact it does without the ability to play on and subvert the events of franchise killer "x-men the last stand". it looks like "picard" is playing a similar game and i'm here for it.
 
I mean, it's also just basic logic: Bryan Fuller is not the most powerful person in Hollywood, but he is rich and critically-respected, and CBS stealing his pitch to make PIC would be a clear violation of the Writers' Guild of America contract rules. Fuller would absolutely have the money and the clout to sue CBS for plagiarism if this allegation were legit, and he has the press connections to get CBS bad publicity for it to boot. Burnett sounds like he's full of shit to me.
CBS could also have said "We're not sure about your pitch, let's buy it out, just in case and we"ll call you if we want you"
For all we know, the pitch came about while he was hired to develop new trek shows; which means that work for hire rules probably apply.
 
Star Trek's various shows are some of the highest-rated shows on any streaming service.

We have long, long since passed the point where anyone gives a damn about making Star Trek "cool" as though the world is still divided up into nerds and jocks.
I agree. I wish the people making Star trek understood this.

Star Trek is always made from a place of insecurity these days. We have to make it cool and action packed or else general audiences won't like it! We have to throw in a bunch of references and tie-ins to old Star Trek or Trekkies won't like it!

Keep it simple. Just tell me a good story. I don't care about seeing a Tribble.
 
Brent Spiner is 70 years old. If Data -- whose relationship with Picard was so essential to who Picard is as a person -- is going to be in this show, he's going to look a bit different than he did when George H.W. Bush was president.

Get over it.



The last time we saw the Borg was in the ENT episode "Regeneration," which aired on 7 May 2003. The last time we saw the Borg in anything other than a one-off was the VOY series finale "Endgame, Part II," which aired on 23 May 2001. A child born the day "Regeneration" aired is old enough to have a driver's license; a child born the day "Endgame, Part II" is a legal adult with the right to vote. An entire generation has passed since the last time we saw the Borg.

And we don't know if this show will actually be about the Borg per se. These stories can be about the impact the Borg have had on other cultures, without being about the Borg themselves.

...

Edited to add: It makes perfect sense for Data to have an aging program, because he is endeavoring to be more Human. What you mean is that him having an aging program violates your pre-conceived notions about what an android should be like and that you are unable to accept creative decisions that are logical outcomes of the creative intent behind the character, if those decisions violate your pre-conceived notions. End edit.

Wait, Brent Spiner has aged? Like a human being? Oh my God!

Yeah, no shit. And when Spiner originally went I'm not going to stay playing Data because that's getting awkward with me aging (paraphrased), I'm like yeah makes sense. And as for my "preconceived notions about what an android is" (which Spiner apparently used to share with me), yeah, I kinda like my aliens and other assorted non-humans to stay "other". One of my biggest disappointments in sci-fi (not just Star Trek) and fantasy is when the non-humans are basically just humans with a paint job. And that is what Data seems to be heading to.

For me Data wasn't interesting because one day he might be human-like. He was interesting because he clearly always had some sort of emotion that developed and lived somewhere in between "anticipated inputs" and lead to emotional expressions that were unique to Data the android, without the need for an "emotion chip" that just serves to go "Data conveniently has feelings exactly like a human now". He wasn't interesting because he was aping humans, he was interesting in the ways he differed from them, and the implications that come with it. For example if it's necessary to share the physicality and trappings of a human being, to be a biological organism, in order to be considered a valid person, as discussed in The Measure of a Man. According to Soong the answer to this is apparently "yes" because Data must age just like a human to become "a real person".

And don't get me started on how ridiculous this aging program is on a basic level. So what exactly is Soong's goal here? If he wants Data to blend in by aging, why is he making him visibly "other" from humans with weird skin and eyes? Is Data going to age indefinitely, or has he a pre-programmed death (like his mother must have for the ruse her aging program is part of)? If he thinks the limitations of a human being, like aging, are necessary for Data to experience what being human is like, why is he making him stronger, and faster, and cognitively superior to a human? We know that Data's hardware can withstand lying around in a cave for 500 years and then simply plopped back on, so unless he has said pre-programmed death is he going to keep going indefinitely as an old Data? Seems ill thought out.

As for the Borg, I'm not talking about time (which in the age of streaming isn't really a the thing anymore, since anybody can pick up watching Trek right now), I'm talking coverage. The Borg went from the scary, alien threat almost like an unstoppable force of nature in their single-mindedness during their first appearance on TNG to a villain where their queen has a grudge against the Voyager specifically. We know about what their lives are like in collectives, we know that you can sorta bounce back from being a Borg, we know that the Borg queen has opposition within the collective. We know a lot about the Borg. When I groan that it's the Borg again, it's because I had hopes that we might finally see a bit more depth given to, say, the Romulans, who were mostly used as stock villains. It's like being disappointed to see another Klingon heavy story because we've seen a lot of them, too.
 
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So many are speculating that the android in the drawer must be Data. Folks, Data was standing 3 feet from a fusion explosion that atomized a very large spacecraft. He was RIGHT NEXT to the explosion.
But what if Captain Pike pulled Data behind one of those blast doors with a window in it and they just watched the explosion from 3 feet away?

That would work.
 
When I groan that it's the Borg again, it's because I had hopes that we might finally see a bit more depth given to, say, the Romulans, who were mostly used as stock villains. It's like being disappointed to see another Klingon heavy story because we've seen a lot of them, too.
On this point, we agree.
 
The one negative which strikes me (apart from the involvement of Riker and Troi; ugh) is that I thought the trailer would get more views. The CBS trailer is on 2.6 million, and Amazon Prime is under 1 million.

The Witcher trailer has over 13 million.

Yeah, but 12.5 million of those are people hoping the trailer has a Geralt/Yennefer or Geralt/Triss or Geralt/Yennefer/Triss sex scene.

No-one's seriously expecting Patrick Stewart to get his freak on at LEAST until episode 2.
 
If he wants Data to blend in by aging, why is he making him visibly "other" from humans with weird skin and eyes?
maybe 24th century human society has moved past that kind of distinction so the color of data's skin is a nonissue? just a thought.

trekyards did a whole video basically just pointing out how puffy he is, which is ridiculous. maybe the show will address data's appearance, maybe it won't. i'm just happy to have him back in whatever form they decide to have him take.
 
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