Star Trek: The Next Generation Reboot With Patrick Stewart Reportedly in Development
Rumors of the Picard-centric reboot come amid Alex Kurtzman extending his CBS contract for a planned expansion of the Star Trek TV universe.
According to a THR article, there are unconfirmed rumors that CBS TV Studios is developing a Star Trek reboot starring Patrick Stewart in which he would reprise his The Next Generation role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. According to THR's sources, Alex Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman are attached to the potential reboot. Not only is this an unconfirmed project, but THR's sources also say that the deal is far from complete and might not happen. Still, this would be huge news for Star Trek fandom—however you might feel about a Picard-centric reboot.
The rumors of the Picard reboot come amidst Kurtzman renewing his overall deal with CBS Television Studios, extending his contract by five years. This will keep him in partnership with the studio through 2023, for a reported $5 million per year.
Kurtzman was recently made sole showrunner of Star Trek: Discovery following the dismissal of previous co-showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen Berg who left amidst reports of bullying behavior in the writers room. Goldsman, who served as an executive producer on Season 1 of Discovery, also left the show, reportedly due to a clash with the writing staff in terms of management style and personality, so it's interesting that he is still attached to the potential Picard-centric reboot.
In addition to his work on Star Trek: Discovery, Kurtzman's extended deal with CBS Television Studios will include an expansion of the Star Trek franchise on the small screen, including the development of new series, miniseries, and other content, including animation.
While this generally seems like good news for the Star Trek universe, it may also be disappointing, depending on what kind of Star Trek fan you are. While the move represents a reinvestment in the Star Trek TV universe, Kurtzman is not known for critical success. Previously, he has co-written the scripts for Transformers, Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. More recently, he directed and co-wrote The Mummy. Not exactly the kind of nuanced science fiction writing Star Trek has, at its best, historically represented.
More news on the expanded Star Trek TV universe as we hear it. [Reply]
Originally Posted by notorious:
Sisko rocked when he poisoned the atmosphere of that planet chasing down his arch nemesis with absolutely ZERO ****s to give.
Pale Moon Light is classic, of course. First time I saw that was great. The scene between Sisko and Garak is my favorite ST scene all time. Makes Picard's 4 lights look like child's play.
The older I get, the further DS9 distances itself from the others as #1.
The captains from the three main shows all had moral compass characters who would guide away from making rash decisions. Kirk, of course, had Spock. Picard had Guinan, and Sisko had Dax.
While Sisko clearly valued Dax's opinion, he basically told her to shut the fuck up when he poisoned the atmosphere to thwart Eddington. Hell, even Worf thought that was too extreme. And he didn't even consult her during his plot to bring the Romulans into the war - instead he went straight to Garack. Neither Kirk or Picard would have done those things - they wouldn't have even occurred to them.
And I agree, the later, Dominion War centric seasons of DS9 are the best Star Trek has to offer. The early seasons dealt too much with the Bajorans. That whole religious story line was tedious at best and annoying as hell at worst. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Frazod:
And I agree, the later, Dominion War centric seasons of DS9 are the best Star Trek has to offer. The early seasons dealt too much with the Bajorans. That whole religious story line was tedious at best and annoying as hell at worst.
The Guinan scenes took me out of the episode a bit due to the existence of Time's Arrow (both in that Guinan's appearance has completely changed and in that she didn't recognize Picard at all). I grant that they probably didn't have much choice but to recast the actor, but it's selling the fans a bit short not to give any kind of explanation about that or her lack of recognition of him.
And I know this is far from the first Trek series to make political statements by going back in time, but the ICE stuff is clunky and obvious as hell (see DS9's Past Tense for a much better example of how to do this when Sisko becomes the central figure in a historical riot narrative).
And as for the ending, well I hope the writers are up for a good explanation for that. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Snica:
Start trek has always been woke
Yes, but there are ways to be that without being as obvious as what ST: Picard doing with the ICE stuff right now. That situation is not really telling us anything that anybody doesn't already know about America's immigration policy and it isn't doing it in a particularly effective or compelling way. [Reply]
Originally Posted by KC_Connection:
Yes, but there are ways to be that without being as obvious as what ST: Picard doing with the ICE stuff right now. That situation is not really telling us anything that anybody doesn't already know about America's immigration policy and it isn't doing it in a particularly effective or compelling way.
Yeah, it's on-the-nose pandering, and just lazy writing. They used to deal with this stuff through allegory, but I guess that's too hard. It's easier to just throw in a bunch of asshole ICE agents and call it a day.
Or the trans and non-binary characters on Discovery, they're just there, like the producers think they've accomplished something just by putting them on screen. But in terms of actually doing something with those issues, they still haven't even equaled the episode of TNG where Riker wants to bang the woman from gender-neutral planet. [Reply]
Outside all the issues with the overly woke feel of the show thus far, that was as big of a filler episode as there has ever been. Young Guinan was interesting (and quite attractive), and the Agnes/Borg Queen dynamic has my attention. I thought it interesting when the Borg Queen got pissed and showed emotion when Agnes wouldn't play her games. [Reply]
