Spoilers Star Trek: Picard General Discussion Thread

[Tosk]

to do otherwise is to imply the Captain is suspected of criminal misconduct

"Most navies have a standard court-martial which convenes whenever a ship is lost; this does not presume that the captain is suspected of wrongdoing, but merely that the circumstances surrounding the loss of the ship be made part of the official record."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court-martial

For what it's worth the novels have attempted to explain that the only reason Picard was automatically court-martialed over the Stargazer was because an intact starship was left abandoned for potentially anyone to find and take. Had the ship actually been destroyed, he would have gotten an inquiry first.

Slightly weird, seeing as it was stated as a general fact.

"A court martial is standard procedure when a ship is lost." - From The Measure of a Man.

I don't see the big deal. A court martial in this case is the process by which they put the information into the official record. It's not a punishment, and it's not an implication of guilt or error. But if those things turn out to have occurred...

 

[MakeshiftPython]

• I can't see P+ merging with Amazon (Amazon already owns MGM. They don't need another studio.)

• Warner is $55 billion in debt. They're not in any position to do a merger.

If there's anyone who can make a merger with Peacock happen, it's Jeff Shell.

Merging with Peacock probably makes the most sense, to be honest. In a funny way that reunites a lot of content that used to be associated with the other studios. Like Trek with NBC, SNL with Paramount, Love Island USA was a CBS show before migrating to Peacock (the first three seasons remain on Paramount+ while 4-5 are on Peacock).

I’m of course always game to have less apps to deal with. I miss the old days when it was just Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. I suspect as the years go by we’ll see a lot of services fall by the wayside and the streaming market is more solidified with studios opting to just license new shows to whatever services are interested in.

In a lot of ways Sony is playing it smart by just producing shows for streamers rather than starting a fledging service of their own. A show like THE BOYS benefits a lot more from streaming on Amazon than it ever would have on a Sony platform.

 

[FederationHistorian]

If there's anyone who can make a merger with Peacock happen, it's Jeff Shell.

Peacock seems to be the only merger that makes sense right now.

 

[Lord Garth]

I'm on the path to doing a third watch of Picard Season 3.

Last year, I watched all six TOS Movies before PIC S3 premiered, to see how PIC Season 3 would blend in with them and to see how much it felt like a TOS Movie, with all of them fresh in my mind. I felt like it more-or-less blended in.

Six months ago (give or take), I rewatched the first two seasons of PIC, and then PIC Season 3, to see how well the third season blended in with the first two. I think Season 1 and Season 3 are basically two different versions of how to continue TNG/DS9/VOY 20 years later. Season 2 was the connective tissue, it felt like the bridge between the two. So it felt like the same series.

Now I'm watching the TNG Movies to see if PIC Season 3 actually works as the second half of the TNG Film Series. I've been saying that's how I treat it, but I can't actually know unless I watch it as such.

Thoughts about that, while I'm the middle of Generations: I'm now in the camp that thinks John A. Alonzo was a huge asset as Director of Photography for Generations. He found a way to make the set look dark but make the colors he intended us to see still pop out. It's too bad he died. Watching it now, for the first time on a projector, I actually wish he was the DP for Picard Season 3. I feel like, visually, Generations does a better job at what Picard Season 3 was going for. Mid-'90s film stock (or film at all, more accurately, as opposed to digital) and a warmer color-grading play factors as well.

 

[Lord Garth]

Data's emotion chip in Generations annoys the crap out of me. It annoyed me when I was 15 and it still annoys me now. I'm glad that First Contact minimized it, and that it was dropped in Insurrection and Nemesis. Picard Season 3 handles Data's emotions a lot better. I'd say better than First Contact too. In PIC S3, the emotions are toned down but they can't actually be turned off.

 

[Moviefan2k4]

Data's emotion chip in Generations annoys the crap out of me. It annoyed me when I was 15 and it still annoys me now. I'm glad that First Contact minimized it, and that it was dropped in Insurrection and Nemesis. Picard Season 3 handles Data's emotions a lot better. I'd say better than First Contact too. In PIC S3, the emotions are toned down but they can't actually be turned off.

The concept of Data being introduced to emotions was the main plot of the Season 4 episode, "Brothers". In it, Brent Spiner essentially played three versions of himself, and is considered one of the best episodes in the entire TNG run. The episode was even nominated for an Emmy, in the makeup category.

 

[Lord Garth]

The concept of Data being introduced to emotions was the main plot of the Season 4 episode, "Brothers". In it, Brent Spiner essentially played three versions of himself, and is considered one of the best episodes in the entire TNG run. The episode was even nominated for an Emmy, in the makeup category.

That's why I said Data's emotion chip annoyed me in Generations.

 

[Danja]

Exclusivity window ends May 3rd.

Skydance still in pole position:

https://deadline.com/2024/04/skydance-paramount-shari-redstone-sony-apollo-1235895060/

Skydance Still In Pole Position For Paramount As Two Hash Out Terms; Sony & Apollo Waiting In The Wings

Skydance and Paramount are deep into hashing out a complicated deal that would see the David Ellison’s studio and its backers take control of the storied film and television company owned by Shari Redstone. The exclusive month-long negotiating period through May 3 is likely to be extended perhaps by a few weeks, Deadline hears, given the complexity of the transaction.

The rough contours of a Skydance deal would see a circa $2 billion payout to Redstone for a majority stake in family holding NAI (which controls Paramount though its voting Class A shares) as well as the National Amusements theater chain and associated real estate assets. Step two would see Paramount acquire Skydance in an all-stock deal valued at circa $4-5 billion. That’s being worked on and will likely wind up at the high end of the range.

David Ellison would run Paramount with Jeff Shell as president. Other roles are TBD, including one for Jeff Zucker. Skydance chief creative officer Dana Goldberg would play a big role in a combined company.

Zucker heads a RedBird joint venture with IMI, an Abu Dhabi-based investment fund.

Zucker is another former NBCUniversal CEO.

Investors in Paramount, who mostly own the more liquid but non-voting Class B shares, have vocally opposed the Skydance deal because it is front-loaded for Shari Redstone but has no takeout premium for them. Dual classes of voting and non-voting stock ensure family control of a company even when it might only hold a small amount of the equity, as in Redstone’s case. A number of institutions have threatened to sue Redstone and the board for a breach of fiduciary duty. News earlier this month that four Paramount directors will step down from the board at the annual meeting was an odd look.

There’s the argument that savvy investors are aware of the two classes of stock and know they’re buying into a so-called “controlled company.” Most own the B shares. Mario Gabelli, founder and CEO of GAMCO Investors, does own voting stock — the biggest chunk of it after Redstone — and has publicly protested the outlines of a deal done over his head without offering him a price.

Litigation is par for the course in M&A. If this deal closes, only time will tell how strong the case is.

 

[Cr0sis21]

The concept of Data being introduced to emotions was the main plot of the Season 4 episode, "Brothers". In it, Brent Spiner essentially played three versions of himself, and is considered one of the best episodes in the entire TNG run. The episode was even nominated for an Emmy, in the makeup category.

I always felt like Data had some form of rudimentary emotions. If not, he really couldn't have progressed as a character. No emotions means no desire, which means no interest in advancement or things of that sort.

 

[fireproof78]

I always felt like Data had some form of rudimentary emotions. If not, he really couldn't have progressed as a character. No emotions means no desire, which means no interest in advancement or things of that sort.

He definitely behaves that way in Season 1.

Though, desire does not mean lack of movement. One can be inclined towards learning without emotional investment, though it is difficult.

 

[Tuskin38]

I wonder why the emotion chip also apparently gave him tastebuds

 

[Cr0sis21]

I wonder why the emotion chip also apparently gave him tastebuds

I really think all the programming and hardware was there, it was just severely regulated / diminished.

 

[fireproof78]

Well, Soong states he meant Data to learn and grow so it would stand to reason that his access and knowledge of these functions would be tucked away.

 

[SJGardner]

My headcanon is that the emotion chip basically just closed the circuits that were already there, just dormant.

 

[cooleddie74]

The programming was always embedded in his subroutines, just inaccessible until the emotion chip contained what was needed to unlock those locked files.

 

[Moviefan2k4]

I wonder why the emotion chip also apparently gave him tastebuds

Brent Spiner is probably my favorite actor, in the whole Star Trek phenomenon. The writers across all the shows have given him so much to do, and he's never failed to disappoint.

 

[NCC-73515]

I wonder why the emotion chip also apparently gave him tastebuds

Taste buds don't do emotions, that happens in the brain

 

[Danja]

I'm wondering if Bakish has seen the writing on the wall?

Skydance and Paramount may be finalizing a deal.

https://deadline.com/2024/04/bob-bakish-set-to-resign-paramount-global-ceo-1235897469/

Bob Bakish To Step Down As Paramount Global CEO Amid Skydance Talks

David Ellison would run Paramount with Jeff Shell as president. Other roles are TBD, including one for Jeff Zucker. Skydance chief creative officer Dana Goldberg would play a big role in a combined company.

Jeff Zucker is another former NBCUniversal CEO.

 

[Firebird]

Oh dear god, not Zucker. Ever since reading Bill Carter's The War for Late Night, I've never gotten over how stupendously awful of a CEO he was during his time at NBC.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I wonder why the emotion chip also apparently gave him tastebuds

He probably had the tastebuds before, he was just incapable of having an emotional reaction to anything he ate/drank. He was probably able to analyze its composition, wasn't able to love or hate any of it. In that scene, he wasn't necessarily reacting to how bad the drink tasted, but rather the revulsion it filled him with.