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Patrick Stewart & the ending of Best of Both Worlds pt 1

SoM

SoM

Captain
Captain
I've heard it said a bunch that the ending cliffhanger for BoBW1 was in case Patrick Stewart didn't renew his contract. Is that true?

If so, how was it meant to work? Not in terms of Riker becoming captain et al, in terms of the episode itself. If "Mr. Worf, Fire" just blew him up and been done with it... that would have been kinda anticlimactic if that was the genuine plan. Maybe even worse than a straightforward "he got reassigned off-screen" like Crusher & Pulaski.
 
Characters dying or leaving off-screen between seasons was such the thing to do across TV. It always felt weird and perfunctory, but it is what it is.

The ones I hated most were the ones where the rest of the characters almost acted as though they never existed.
 
SoM said:
I've heard it said a bunch that the ending cliffhanger for BoBW1 was in case Patrick Stewart didn't renew his contract. Is that true?
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No, Patrick Stewart was under contract, he could not quit. He could have asked to be released but that decision was up to the studio so they knew wether he would return or not.
There were also stories that Shelby oowuld become the new XO should Picard die but that wasn't true either. Elizabeth Dennehy herself said on The 7th Rule podcast that she was contracted for two episodes, the season 3 finale and the season 4 premiere, there was nothing in her contract, not even an option that suggested more and no one even unofficially whispered to her agent of she would be interested and/or available.
 
Stewart was always returning, but even if he didn't, he might have done a few days on set to finish part 2 and possibly even Family, and have him retire after the experience.

Had he been completely unable to return, narrative options could include

1) Weapon damages the cube, killing Picard's body (with a stand-in for the scenes), but the cube continues on its way. Rescue attempt could continue, retrieve a very mangled body which helps them defeat but then dies. A stand in would be fine for the mangled borg body.

2) Weapon does nothing to the cube, and as above, we never see Picard again, no more communication with Borg, no (successful) rescue attempt, borg defeated another way

3) The Borg implants did significant cosmetic damage to him which can't be completely fixed for $treknobabble reasons and that's why he now looks/sounds different. Picard the character continues on (or retires)

The Flash had a problem with what to do with Ralph Dibny after the actor was fired between seasons, and went for the "mangled body" approach. Black Panther 2 killed of T'Challa before the start of the film.
 
The initial contracts that actors sign for TV series are almost always for six years. There is no way that Patrick Stewart was up for a contract renewal at the end of the third season. He could have asked to renegotiate his contract, or even asked to be released, but he couldn't demand either.

That, incidentally, is why Terry Farrell left DS9 after six seasons -- it WAS time for contract renewal then, and she wasn't happy with several things and chose not to renew. It's also why TV shows tend to get way more expensive beginning in their seventh season.
 
Here is Patrick Stewart mentioning signing a six year contract when he got the role of Picard:
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Those were all the stories in "the air" that summer. None of them true. Everyone was coming back. Except for Michael Piller.

And then he came back too.
 
Tallguy said:
Those were all the stories in "the air" that summer. None of them true. Everyone was coming back. Except for Michael Piller.

And then he came back too.
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The myth of the idea is more fun than the reality, But only Lisa Simpson could say that the myth of Jebediah Springfield had more weight than the truth behind him. or the myth vs reality of Zephram Cochrane...

I'd be more worried if TNG didn't have the audience at the time as it, more than anything else, ensured a season renewal (far more than if it wasn't made as first-run syndication). Season 1 could be hit or miss with the scripts, but the renewal gave the show time. Mid-season 1-onward shows some budding and season 2, hit or miss as well, showed a lot more solid growth and confidence, even enough of confidence to make it through filming the Okona episode. Season 3 just nails it, though...
 
Qonundrum said:
I'd be more worried if TNG didn't have the audience at the time as it, more than anything else, ensured a season renewal (far more than if it wasn't made as first-run syndication). Season 1 could be hit or miss with the scripts, but the renewal gave the show time. Mid-season 1-onward shows some budding and season 2, hit or miss as well, showed a lot more solid growth and confidence, even enough of confidence to make it through filming the Okona episode. Season 3 just nails it, though...
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You know, it's funny because while we could certainly picture Stewart not coming back at that point in time there was zero chance that the show was being cancelled.

It's another one of those "You had to be there" things. There were people more plugged in to Star Trek news than I was but probably not many. (And they were the people who told me things.) (I'm trying to remember if we knew that Tasha was coming back. We certainly didn't know about the time travel or the Enterprise C.)

So we're watching the show. And I was vaguely aware that this was the end of the season. Then I looked at my watch and thought "Gee, this seems to be going long." And when Picard was captured and they got back to the bridge my stomach sank. "We're going to get LEFT."

"Fire!"

We all howl and cheer and yell and then I said "I think that's the end of the season." "What?" "It's the end of the show until the fall. They won't wrap this up until September!"

MORE howling and yelling and cheering.

It WAS pretty terrific.
 
SoM said:
I've heard it said a bunch that the ending cliffhanger for BoBW1 was in case Patrick Stewart didn't renew his contract. Is that true?
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Yes.

It was originally an out for both him and Spiner. That was part of the impetus for featuring the Borg. But both re-upped well before production started on BOBW, so there was no question when the episode was shot that Picard would return.
 
Mudd said:
Yes.

It was originally an out for both him and Spiner. That was part of the impetus for featuring the Borg. But both re-upped well before production started on BOBW, so there was no question when the episode was shot that Picard would return.
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Citation needed, given the number of citations of Stewart himself talking about his 6 year contract
 
I don't know if the BOBW rumor is true, but people get out of contracts all the time.

...Unless one was to claim that Denise Crosby signed a not-quite-one-year contract. ;)
 
Mudd said:
Yes.

It was originally an out for both him and Spiner. That was part of the impetus for featuring the Borg. But both re-upped well before production started on BOBW, so there was no question when the episode was shot that Picard would return.
Click to expand...

According to what now? There was no "re-up". Neither of them had contracts that were expiring that season.

Am I right in remembering that the only reason Wil Wheaton was able to leave the show when he wanted was because he turned 18?
 
Tallguy said:
Am I right in remembering that the only reason Wil Wheaton was able to leave the show when he wanted was because he turned 18?
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Wheaton wanted to reduce hours (a bit like Farrell would years later), but was told to commit fully despite what he felt as reducing importance for his character, or to leave.

He left by mutual consent. And regretted it. Grass wasn't greener.

He didn't turn out terribly for a child star, but it wasn't a great childhood.
 
Mudd said:
Yes.

It was originally an out for both him and Spiner. That was part of the impetus for featuring the Borg. But both re-upped well before production started on BOBW, so there was no question when the episode was shot that Picard would return.
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No.

As has already been pointed out here, and verified by Patrick Stewart himself, all the actors signed to a six year contract when the show started. There was no need for any of them to "re-up" at the end of the third season.
 
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