Well put. Trek keeps having to strike the balance between new and old and appealing to a sometimes inconsistent base.
If they were really that concerned about the fans wanting the Titan from the novels, they could have easily made the ship the Luna class. But that wasn't what they were concerned about. And quite frankly, I'm still a bit bewildered as well as to why this ship needed to be the Titan at all. Other than it being the namesake of Riker's old ship, there's little need for it to have had that name.
“Welcome to the Enterprise” would have sounded cooler. You know, the ship(s) that all of these geezers served on?
Perhaps it’s a deliberate riff towards the TOS movie era? The crew of a legendary Enterprise is older now, They go on ‘one more big adventure’ on their modtro (modern - retro, word by Nissan Micra) ship, the NCC-xxxx-A. Because the crew can’t ship out on the Constitution II class Enterprise-A, they get the Constitution III class Titan-A.
Or...maybe they wanted to do something a little different. You know, just for kicks. I know, I know, that's crazy talk
You literally answered your own question.... And I mentioned that in my post. Some fans wants nostalgia, others want new shit. They hoped they could touch both fanbases this way. It's not rocketscience.
Nuts...that's disappointing. Indeed. It's that ridiculous delicate balance of throwing both elements out there and hoping something sticks. Hopefully they back it up with a decent story otherwise it's just frosting.
Yeah, they're balancing on that thing line of making it work or just going full on callback/throwback. I mean, I love the design, and I understand they can't take all of the novels in consideration. But they're using the Titan design already. There has to be a line about why Riker's Titan is succeeded with a new ship, right?
Better to start with a decent story and back it up with frosting. Picard especially since season 2 seems to be far more frosting than cake.
Your quote isn't lined up, just so you know. But, more to that "has to" is something that will likely lead to disappointment for many fans. I have found that if I expect or demand a particular thing be done in a show then I am often quite angry at the showrunners for not reading my mind. So, I am curious to see if they address it all or if it's just time moved on. I agree. But, I'm not one to hold my breath with Star Trek. Fan service is preferred over story.
Yeah, I messed up with the quote. I do agree that 'has to' is a dangerous thing. But Riker and the Titan.... I mean, back then they did a contect to come up with a design for Riker's ship. It was a big deal. AND they incorperated the design into season 2 of Picard. So to completely disregard Riker's Titan.....at a moment where we are getting so many throwbacks. Would be kinda weird right?
That wasn't my point. I don't think they are as concerned about 'what fans want' as you seem to think they are.
Though the PIC-continuity TTN novel mentioned that the novelverse version of the Titan's mission and crew-composition was nixed in the planning stages, so its inspiration wouldn't have happened in this version of the story and it might make narrative sense for it to be something else. Though it was also weird for the motto to be something the first captain choose, anyway. I'm 90% sure that the "-A" at the end of the registry number is going to be the only indication that this wasn't the ship Riker took over at the end of Nemesis, and people who aren't familiar with Lower Decks, STO, the novels, the comics, that traveling museum exhibit, fan art, and so on will be given the distinct impression that this was the one-and-only starship Titan that Riker commanded. Or, at least, the dialog will weirdly go both ways, like how within a couple lines, the Stargazer was described as a brand-new ship and also Picard's old one refitted TMP-style. It's an unpleasant return to the strange not-invented-here syndrome that suffused early DSC and PIC, and I don't think it's auspicious that, it seems, TPTB were excited about finally showing Riker's new ship and getting to design it, and then, finding out that the cartoon show had already locked them in to what Riker's new ship looked like, they decided to do it anyway with a weird rationalization that doesn't make in-universe or metatextual sense. You're right, if it's not going to be the Titan we already know, why is it the Titan at all? It's bad shared-universe manners.
Personally, I don't care about fan service. I do however think the people making STP are and are NOT hitting the notes they think they should.
I agree with you on your first point. I don't like fan service either, and the less of it, the better. For the second point, I would be curious to know what notes you think they should be hitting.