Childhood nerd nostalgia mode: ACTIVATED

[lizbee]

I woke up this morning, vaguely recollected that Mary Chieffo and Jayne Brook had a panel together at Star Trek Las Vegas around then, and opened Twitter. Only to find that the panel was still two hours away, but, thirty seconds after I opened the app, a new Picard series was officially announced.

This is ... a thing. An interesting thing! For one thing, it doesn't seem to be a TNG-revival? So far Patrick Stewart is the only confirmed star, and I really don't see Brent Spiner pulling out his unitard and gold make-up ever again. All we know is that Stewart says it's about Picard's life twenty years after Nemesis, and he "may not be a captain anymore".

I managed about 15 seconds of purely Picard-related squee before I started thinking about all the other characters who could cameo in a post-Nemesis series*, and also started planning the tantrum I'll throw if Gates McFadden isn't involved in some capacity.

Mostly I think this sounds like something new for the Trek franchise -- not just advancing Discovery's protagonist-centric storytelling, but maybe telling a story in which Starfleet is only peripherally involved. I wouldn't be into a Starfleet and exploration-free series if that was the lynchpin of the franchise, but one of the advantages of short seasons and streaming platforms is that they can tell different kinds of stories.

...then there was the Discovery panel, at which Chieffo and Brook re-enacted The Screaming Bit, and I watched the Instagram clips a normal amount of times.

(I adore the way Chieffo has wholeheartedly embraced the fandom, by the way. Her parents are also actors -- I think her mother, in particular, has done a lot of cult horror? -- and she comes across as being both trained and professional, and really, really nerding out. I hope she doesn't burn out, because going by her Instagram, she's putting a lot of energy into this con.)

* So, Janeway, and Janeway, and also Janeway.

Comments

[ironed_orchid]

I am excited but have also been having somewhat frustrating convos with fofs on facebook who are all "I hope it's not terrible like Discovery" and then it turns out they gave up on Disco before they got to "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad"

[lizbee]

See, for me, Disco hit its stride around "Choose Your Pain" and "Lethe", but anyone who thinks "Magic..." isn't good Trek is wrong.

("But Lorca doesn't hand Mudd over to the authorities! And that's bad!"

Yeah, why would Lorca want to avoid drawing Federation authorities to himself and his room full of illegal weapons? *thinky face*)

[ironed_orchid]

I get that not everyone imprints on Michael Burnham, I really do. But it frustrates me when people make assumptions about what the writers/show runners were doing based on not enough evidence.

[(Anonymous)]

1

[infiniteviking]

I'm torn between very cautiously optimistic and wanting to leap in with both feet because Patrick Stewart is good people and I'd really like to trust that his sheer wholehearted caring for the character, the show, and the fans will result in a story that won't break me. Fixing some of the characters'* book fates would be a huge bonus.

Still gotta watch Discovery, which I haven't seen purely because of lack of energy. I really like what I hear.


* Janeway!!! (Grumpy admirals Picard and Janeway managing hotshot-captain crises and sharing caffeinated gripe sessions plz?)