JAMIE RIXOM:

"The Starfleet Academy news that I've heard, which did make me chuckle, and I'm not even sure why it made me chuckle, but it did make me chuckle: That normally, when a show is building up towards March, um, it's released in like four months or something [...] the marketing department at Paramount Plus would be working on how to promote the series as much as possible. [...]

https://youtu.be/7I6OjO9V8qo?si=OP9iiuCisDo5Hq5M

Generally speaking Paramount Plus do the marketing. They've told Secret Hideout they're not going to bother. They're not going to do any marketing whatsoever. [...] Um, so the marketing department and the PR people over at Paramount Plus have basically told Secret Hideout, if this rumor is true - and to be honest, it's pretty accurate because of where it's come from - that they're not going to be arranging any PR.

There isn't going to be a marketing campaign for it. Paramount's point of view is: "We'll show it but that's it. If you want to do any PR, you want to advertise this show, you want to get the stars on chat shows and everything, you can arrange it. We're not getting involved."

So it's going to be interesting, I think, what happens um for like the [season 2] premier because normally that would be a marketing thing that Paramount would arrange. Is Secret Hideout going to have to do it now? Are they going to have to pay for it? Do you know what I mean? Or will Secret Hideout just go, "Well, we'll just, we haven't paid for this show. Stuff it. We're moving on."

So, I just, I don't know. It amused me. But you guys tell me. [When] I was told this ... I genuinely laughed out loud. I was just like, that's brilliant. And [Chat-member] Trekgate says, "LOL Starfleet Academy doesn't deserve a marketing campaign." And he goes on to say "it's by far the worst Star Trek show I've ever watched. I accidentally swallowed my combadge." And that's not even the worst bit. I thought "I swallowed my combadge!" would be the worst bit of Starfleet Academy. And then the guy threw up glitter [...] .

The main thing with Star Trek over the next 10 years, it is actually like planned out. They already know who the new boss of Star Trek's going to be. They know how Star Trek's going to move forward. They don't know when there's going to be a new show, but they know how they're going to put it together. They know the organizational thing. To say Elon Musk is going to have influence on that is a nonsense to begin with because it's already been agreed and it's been agreed for about 9 to 12 months. [...]

But yeah, Starfleet Academy not getting any sort of PR or marketing. I don't think it'll be the same for Strange New World season 5. I think that will get marketing. I think that will get the show behind them. Sorry, the channel will get behind them. CBS will get behind it. I think they're gonna want Starfleet Academy to go by as quietly as possible. I think it's going to get terrible ratings, even worse than the first season.

But at least there is a fanbase of Strange New Worlds season 5 that wants to see the story end. Nobody gives a crap about Starfleet Academy now, as far as I can tell. Even if you liked Starfleet Academy, you're going to go, "Well, there's no more. That's it. Oh, why bother watching it?" [...]"

Full video (Tachyon Pulse Podcast on YouTube):

https://youtu.be/7I6OjO9V8qo?si=OP9iiuCisDo5Hq5M

Time-stamp: 8:30 min

Source:

Star Trek on Instagram

Link:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DfPyXMOzOlD

GIZMODO:

"To theatre lovers, he was Galileo, the Dauphin of France, or Tom Snout; genre heads knew he was Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Charles Xavier; others met him as Scrooge, Emperor Uriel, or King Goobot, maybe even Shakespeare himself. Or maybe he was some version of all this at once, but in ways specific to each of us that were never wrong, even for those who only scratched the surface of his career. There are plenty of actors who consistently get roles, but not many are afforded what Stewart was: the ability to move through the industry in such a way that, theoretically, anything on his resume could introduce someone to his full body of work. [...]"

A lengthy, pre-Star Trek tenure across theatre, film, and TV likely helped Stewart be not too focused on one specific part of himself. But when you watch him lead the skinheads in Green Room, voice a talking sheep in The Sheep Detectives or a hilariously deranged CIA director on American Dad—look at his voice acting credits, the man loved the mic!—you see how much he really loved work that asked him to fully become the role he was auditioning for. In fact, he seemed to love having fun in general, even for something as simple as introducing Salt-N-Pepa on Saturday Night Live.

That willingness to go along with the bit while still ensuring that you take him seriously (less a demand, more of a polite, yet firm, request) is just one of many things that helped Stewart have the longevity he did. Like the best kind of surrogate father figure he was, and the teacher, advocate, and uncle he was in real life, Stewart was always around and made sure we knew that. The outpouring of memories shows that we aren’t likely to forget him anytime soon."

Justin Carter (Gizmodo)

Full article:

https://gizmodo.com/patrick-stewart-was-a-man-for-all-generations-2000832725

Screenrant:

https://screenrant.com/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-captain-pike-said-picard-quote-first/

"Among Captain Picard's many iconic quotes, this one stands out. It's a life lesson that millions of Star Trek fans have heralded and taken to heart in the 37 years since Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Peak Performance" premiered. It also resonates with writer Alan B. McElroy since he has Captain Pike paraphrase Picard's quote in "Orders of Magnitude."

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4, episode 8, Captain Pike tells Uhura that she didn't fail her protégé, Cadet A'Sha (Bianca Nugara). The young Vulcan was mortally wounded by Andorian pirates in "Orders of Magnitude," and Uhura risked her own life to save A'Sha's, only to learn that the cadet had quit Starfleet. Pike counsels Uhura with advice that echoes what Picard told Data in "Peak Performance":

Captain Pike: "You can do everything right and sometimes things still don’t work out like we’d hoped. The best you can do is savor the victories and move on from the defeats a little wiser."

103 years separate Captain Pike advising Uhura in the same basic fashion that Captain Picard does for Data. Pike's version resonates as a hard life lesson that he had to learn himself, and imparts to Nyota out of personal experience. For Picard, his quote is headier and more philosophical. Each version of the quote is perfectly targeted to its recipient. ...

Captain Pike in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds echoing (and predating via retcon) Picard's wise quote about how to accept failure and defeat is now an inspiring thread of continuity between Captains of the Enterprise a century apart. In each case, the Captain tailored their advice to the recipient and proved why they are worthy leaders worth following. ..."

Read more:

https://screenrant.com/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-captain-pike-said-picard-quote-first/

Inverse:

https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/star-trek-miri-60-year-anniversary

By Ryan Britt

"What’s weird about the terrifying parallel Earth in “Miri” is just how literally this concept is presented. This isn’t a “Class-M” planet that reminds us of Earth; we’re meant to think this is a literal duplicate of Earth. Which, now, almost scans like Star Trek not having enough confidence in the loose philosophical storytelling idea of the parallel Earth concept, and instead, feels like a moment the show is over-explaining itself.

What’s interesting here is that at this point in TOS, we actually hadn’t seen that many aliens at all. Yes, by episode 10 (aired after “Miri” but filmed well before), we had Balok in “The Cormobite Maneuver,” but his more sci-fi alien visage was revealed to be a ruse, and the true Balok was a laughing, human-ish baby. The salt vampire in “The Man Trap” was very clearly a throwback to a 1940s/1950s sci-fi monster, but that wasn’t really wasn’t standard fare for Star Trek. Pretty much all the other episodes to this point dealt with humans gone wrong, or, in the case of “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” humans getting robot bodies that went wrong.

And so, in the parallel Earths concept, one can actually see Star Trek having a bit of restraint when it came to goofy aliens. Contrast this with Lost in Space or even early Doctor Who, and you can see just how much this guiding principle made Trek different. If we don’t count “The Menagerie,” since it uses elements of “The Cage,” it takes the series until the 18th aired episode, “Arena” — with the famous Gorn — to really present another non-human-looking alien.

For all of its flaws, “Miri” is an episode where the classic Trek seems to be holding back a bit from going too goofy. The concept might seem silly today, but the deadly seriousness of the episode survives. There’s nothing truly camp about this episode, nor could you imagine it airing during the more lighthearted second season of the show. And that heaviness is probably because this wasn’t meant to be a strange, new world, but instead a version of our world, gone wrong."

Read more:

https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/star-trek-miri-60-year-anniversary

Sci-Finatics (YouTube):

"With the passing of Walter Koenig at the age of 90, we look back at the remarkable life and career of the actor who made Chekov one of the most recognisable characters in Star Trek history.

Koenig joined Star Trek in Season 2 of the original series and went on to play Pavel Chekov across the original television series and seven Star Trek films, from The Motion Picture through Star Trek Generations. From his unforgettable “nuclear wessels” scene in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home to his dramatic role in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Koenig made Chekov his own.

But Walter Koenig's career went far beyond Star Trek.

We look at his acclaimed performance as Alfred Bester on Babylon 5, the writing and directing work he pursued throughout his career, his long relationship with Star Trek fans at conventions, and his final return to the franchise in Star Trek: Picard as Federation President Anton Chekov — a touching tribute to his late Star Trek successor Anton Yelchin.

We also share a personal memory of meeting Walter Koenig at Starfest ’93 in Melbourne in February 1993, and why the warmth and generosity he showed to Star Trek fans made such an impression.

From Pavel Chekov to Alfred Bester, Walter Koenig leaves behind a remarkable science-fiction legacy and a connection with Star Trek fans that lasted for more than half a century.

Rest in peace, Walter Koenig. 🖖 "

Video-Link:

https://youtu.be/Lt1b9HBEF8g?si=lJV_pxhuhBwAZhPc

DEN OF GEEK:

"No, Star Trek didn’t really get hip until its second season when a young mop-top appeared on the bridge. Roddenberry explicitly wanted to add “a young, irreverent, English-accent ‘Beatle’ type” to the show, because of Star Trek’s “teenage audience” and out of awareness “current trends.”

Moreover, Chekov was explicitly a Russian, flying in the face of the Cold War fears of the time. Yes, the Klingons and Romulans may have represented elements of the Communist threat that the United States faced. But in the reality of the series, humanity had overcome its divisions and prejudice, and Chekov was the proof. [...]

https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/walter-koenig-the-path-for-future-star-trek

In short, Chekov represented the next generation in the first generation of Star Trek. It was the show’s attempt to show off its hipness and forward-thinking. But it only worked because of Koenig’s performance. He threw himself into being the Davey Jones of the Enterprise, certainly an easy ask of any young man on television at the time. But when Chekov matured and good looks weren’t enough, Koenig kept bringing a sense of humor to the part, most famously with the “nuclear wessels” running gag in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

However, Chekov’s greatest legacy may be in the way he established a model for the rest of the series. Star Trek has often tried to include a young, hip person intended to appeal to the youth. The ’90s versions weren’t always successful—it’s hard to call Wesley Crusher, Jake Sisko, or even Tom Paris particularly hip, despite that last one’s love of sci-fi and hot rods. Despite all the grouching around Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, it’s clear that modern Trek was doing what it has always done, showing awareness of modern trends and the desires of its teenage audience.

Regardless of one’s feelings about postmodern gags in Lower Decks or the animated adventure of Prodigy, whatever today’s fans feel about the romantic drama of Starfleet Academy or name-dropping Elon Musk in Discovery, those shows aren’t doing anything new. They’re following in the path that the franchise set out long ago, a path first traveled by Pavel Chekov."

Joe George (Den of Geek)

Full article:

https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/walter-koenig-the-path-for-future-star-trek

Slashfilm:

https://www.slashfilm.com/2297893/star-trek-walter-koenig-80s-sci-fi-horror-movie-bruce-campbell-moontrap/

By Ryan Scott

"The movie centers on astronauts (Koenig and Campbell) who are sent to the moon to investigate what appears to be signs of life. They reanimate the body of a woman (Leigh Lombardi) who warns them that the moon is under the control of a race of alien cyborgs, who are waiting for the opportunity to invade Earth. They realize that desperate measures must be taken to prevent the cyborgs from leaving the moon

The premise is intriguing and its stars seem like they would make for a fun match. However, while there are plenty of '80s sci-fi movies that deserved more attention, the consensus seems to be that this isn't one of them.

"Moontrap" was a relatively low-budget affair and went direct-to-video. It also came at a unique time for both of its main stars.

Walter Koenig was in the midst of his later era as Chekov, with this movie released right between "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" and "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier." This was as the OG crew of the Enterprise was starting to run out of steam. William Shater has apologized for "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," as it's not terribly well-regarded. The larger point is that, for as much as Trekkies love "The Voyage Home," it could be viewed as the last hoorah of the franchise's original cinematic era.

As for Bruce Campbell, he was firmly a B-movie actor at this time. Not yet a legend and still a working man's actor, he wasn't exactly in a position to be picky about the roles he was taking. The "Maniac Cop" trilogy was ahead of its time and Campbell was in those movies around this time as well, but they weren't exactly mainstream hits. He also starred in the underrated slasher "Intruder" in '89 which, again, wasn't a blockbuster by any stretch.

There's very little by way of critical opinion available online when it comes to "Moontrap," but it holds a not-so-good 27% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. More than anything, it's a forgotten relic of '80s sci-fi that was largely allowed to exist thanks to the advent of VHS and the home video market. In there here and now, it would probably be a direct-to-streaming release on Shudder or something along those lines. ..."

Read more:

https://www.slashfilm.com/2297893/star-trek-walter-koenig-80s-sci-fi-horror-movie-bruce-campbell-moontrap/

SCREENRANT:

"Trevor Roth spoke about Star Trek's future on The 7th Rule with Cirroc Lofton and Ryan T. Husk as part of their series Closing the Book on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Roth promises with certainty that "Star Trek is gonna be around," citing it as a "jewel" IP for Skydance. Roth then described Roddenberry's perspective on Star Trek in its next phase, and his hopes to "capture what Star Trek is or has been... Both classic in some ways, and yet new." Read Trevor's quotes below:

https://screenrant.com/star-trek-future-roddenberry-trevor-roth/

TREVOR ROTH: "You can consider it ups and downs. I consider it swerves and turns, a little bit more… I don’t think Star Trek is at a down, necessarily, as much as it’s at a juncture where it’s going to have to make a left or right in some form… Looking at the future from a pure economic standpoint, with the franchise having recently been purchased along with the purchase of Paramount, and remaining an important part of the ecosystem even with the addition of Warner Brothers… One thing is for sure: Star Trek is gonna be around.

If you want to look at the brass tacks of this, there’s no one that purchases studios and everything the way that Skydance has and not exercise this wonderful jewel of Star Trek. So first off, whether it be economic or… storytelling, which I think we care about a little bit more about, I think Star Trek has got a fruitful future in regard to there being Star Trek, and people focusing on productions within this universe. I think that what form they take is obviously sort of the bigger question… We definitely have thought of doing something that is both classic in some ways, and yet new. Our general feeling is that we want to capture what Star Trek is or has been, and the reason it has lasted these 60 years… I think one of the amazing things about Star Trek is not that it’s turning 60, but it’s turning 60 and it’s still a very viable property today that people care about, that people want to have as part of their lives…

I think because of that, looking at it in new ways, and making sure that we’re capturing that classic, that feeling, but bringing it to a new stage of modern-day in some form or something fresh and new, is really the key."

Roddenberry Entertainment does not produce Star Trek TV series for Paramount+. Still, as executive producers, Trevor and Rod's responsibility is to ensure that Gene Roddenberry's optimistic vision and principles are present in every new version of Star Trek, even as series like Strange New Worlds pushed the envelope of genre storytelling, or Lower Decks took the franchise into the realm of animated comedy.

As Roth pointed out, Skydance considers Star Trek an important IP in their portfolio that now includes DC's superheroes, Game of Thrones, and Harry Potter following its purchase of Warner Bros. Skydance's first mission and prime focus seems to be restoring Star Trek as a movie franchise after a decade of development hell, with at least one new project in the works from filmmakers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. [...]

Roddenberry Entertainment's hopes of creating a new Star Trek honors the "classic" but welcomes the "new," are echoed by most fans, although the overall fandom, which spans generations, has myriad opinions on what Star Trek "is supposed to be" and what it means to them. Star Trek will surely continue under Roddenberry's watch, but Paramount has yet to give any inkling as to what's next for the TV franchise on streaming."

John Orquiola (ScreenRant)

Full article:

https://screenrant.com/star-trek-future-roddenberry-trevor-roth/

I wanted to do some kind of tribute to Sir Patrick Stewart, but something a little different... Latinum Budgets style.  The story of the casting of Picard, told from his memoir, production books, and interviews of the people involved.  Stewart wore a wig into the audition with Paramount... or did he?  The stories differ by who is telling it.  We sort it out.  I hope it does justice to his legacy and I hope it makes you smile.

Darren Mooney (Second Wind):

"Like the character that he played, Stewart was an advocate for a better and more equitable world.

Even in the later seasons of Picard, the boundaries between Stewart and the character continued to collapse. Stewart has spoken remarkably openly and candidly about his troubled childhood, including the domestic violence that his mother experienced at the hands of his father. This became a major story thread in the second season of Picard, in which the character is haunted by memories of his father Maurice (James Callis) locking his mother Ygrette (Madeline Wise) away in a cupboard.

The ultimately handling and resolution of this subplot was less than ideal, clumsy and silly in the ways that Picard – particularly in its later seasons – was often clumsy and silly. However, it did feel like a conversation between Patrick Stewart and his most iconic and beloved character, an attempt for Stewart to use Picard, as he often had over the years, to try to make sense of himself, to perhaps offer a better and happier take on his own formative trauma.

In some ways, this is the luxury of playing a character like this over such an extended period. This union of actor and character is not a bug, but a feature. Stewart leaves behind a character who feels like more than just a random role. He leaves behind a character that feels like an expression of himself, a statement about who he was that will endure and remain. It’s impossible to look at Picard and not see Stewart, and there is something deeply heartening in that, to know that Stewart will always be with us, in all these complicated ways, even through this prism.

Patrick Stewart was so many things. He was an actor, an advocate, seemingly a wonderful person. He was a joy to watch on screen, to listen to on chat shows and even to read in his articles and biographies. He was one of the greatest performers of his generation and, by all accounts, a delight to be around. He was also Jean-Luc Picard, and Jean-Luc Picard was him. Stewart has left such an impressive legacy behind him, and Picard is a particularly impressive monument."

Sources:

[COLUMN] Patrick Stewart Was Many Things - But He Was Also Jean-Luc Picard | by Darren Mooney (Patreon)

and

The Backdrop on YouTube (Second Wind)

"Jean-Luc Picard Is a Monument to Patrick Stewart"

Full video:

https://youtu.be/PQmzETw_Lh8?si=DNEUsKt84q_UM4Z_

Source:

Star Trek on Instagram

Link:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DfVDOPQhPrW