StillPaisleyCat

joined 2 years ago

The Destiny trilogy by David Mack is my favourite. I liked it so much that I got a print copy of the omnibus.

Cold Equations is another popular trilogy by Mack.

Vanguard is TOS era series with books alternating in authorship by Mack and the writing duo of Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore. Vanguard, Starbase 47, is a somewhat mysterious Starfleet base of operations in a new region under colonization. While the Enterprise and her crew make a few appearances across the series, it’s primarily about Vanguard and the ships that are based there.

I liked all the Titan novels.

The Fall is a multibook ‘event’ in the Relaunch novelverse with each book by a different one of the regular authors.

It comes after Destiny and the Typhon Pact series of books.

While I like most of the books in all of these, there’s one author David R. George III whose books I find unbearably dull. He clearly knew his canon cold but his books are long on excessively detailed exposition, and short on dialogue or action. By the time I got to The Fall, I had learned to skip his books and just count on the recaps provided by the other authors.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 2 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I don’t see the documentary as the A-plot at all.

It was constantly present as a frame, but the episode wasn’t primarily about the documentary - it was primarily about how Starfleet captains and senior crew wrestle with ethical decisions when their orders do not align with their values, and how they seek to find information that can provide a rationale to pursue an alternative course of action.

Basically, it showed how important the crew that is present in the situation is and how that makes Starfleet more than just a military organization serving a military mission.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 3 points 1 day ago (4 children)

My partner and I really liked this one.

We both think it’s in the top rank of Star Trek episodes. In my view it may be the best of SNW to date.

It definitely should be the ‘For Your Consideration’ episode of this season.

The direction was excellent. This was one of the best dramatic performances from Mount as Pike since season two of Discovery.

My sense is that some viewers were mistaking the C-plot about the warring groups, for the A-plot about the Enterprise officers response to the ethical choice between orders and the free will of a sentient being or the B-plot about the making of the documentary.

I can’t agree that the episode was too short. The best Trek episodes are tightly rendered and leave lots of room for thought after.

It depends on the populations.

Steppe populations from modern Ukraine easy through to the Urals lived mainly on meat and dairy 5000 years ago (even if they didn’t yet have the lactose tolerance adaptation).

More Prodigy erasure…

🤦🏼‍♀️

I can agree that they’re doing a brilliant job of what they’re doing.

For those of us who’ve been wondering about Pike since The Cage was first put back together and released in the 1980s, it’s been a bit disappointing.

Too much Spock, Uhura, M’Benga and Chapel, not to mention Kirk, too soon rather than a focus on Pike, Number One and the ensemble that preceded Kirk.

I didn’t expect the graphic novel to be able to so accurately capture the voice, tone and humour of the show.

It’s exceptionally good right down to the fine print footnotes on the bottom of several pages.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 2 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I had wanted a Pike and Number One focused show but the showrunners and Paramount seem determined to make this show about laying the backstory for TOS.

While I still love the show, I agree that it’s still frustrating that the opportunity to focus more on the unexplored characters.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 12 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

President of the Federation by all accounts, or past President.

Bakula is pitching a series Star Trek United. It seems everyone’s personal project to revive a character or run a show or movie is coming out of the woodwork.

https://trekmovie.com/2025/08/12/scott-bakula-talks-star-trek-united-producer-reveals-more-details-on-proposed-series/

There’s a discussion thread on this article from a week ago.

I’ve got a rewatch upcoming with my spouse so I’ll take another look at if from that angle.

Perhaps that can help sort out whether the episode might have been handled better by another director.

Interestingly, I find it’s the Trek actors turned directors that manage mixed and shifting tones well. Frakes in directing First Contact, Dawson in directing The Andorian Incident, Robert Duncan McNeill directing Body and Soul are examples.

 

During a panel with Picard season three showrunner Terry Matalas and Todd Stashwick (Shaw), were questioned about a ‘30-page outline’ for the Star Trek Legacy concept.

Reportedly, Michelle Hurd (Raffi) mentioned this during an earlier panel.

It sounds as though there’s nothing new in terms of interest from the executives about the concept, just fan interest and an ongoing campaign. Matalas and Stashwick are focused on the upcoming Marvel limited series Vision Quest in which Stashwick stars as the Paladin.

What’s interesting to me is that the more I hear about Matalas original pitch, the more I dislike. Matalas confirmed that it would have a Klingon focus.

While I loved the deep dives into Klingon lore in the 90s, I would prefer something new in the 25th century even a show featuring legacy characters.

As well, Matalas confirmed that they proposed that Shaw would a holographic recreation rather than revived by Borg nanites. We don’t need another grumpy hologram now that the Doctor is back in both Prodigy and Starfleet Academy.

I would find Shaw’s journey as a victim of the Borg with survivor guild to someone who accepts that his own life depends on Borg technology as much more interesting, compelling and new ground in terms of a character arc.

Edited to correct Michelle Hurd’s family name…

 

Variety reports that “Brian Robbins Calls Paramount-Skydance Merger ‘Bittersweet’ in Memo to Staff Amid His Exit as Co-CEO”

David Ellison, the founder of Skydance, will become chairman and CEO of Paramount. Andy Gordon, who leads the West Coast office of RedBird Capital Partners, is set to take the role of chief operating officer and chief strategic officer. RedBird teamed with Skydance to acquire Paramount Global for $8.5 billion.

Looking at how Paramount, since 2021, has failed to deliver on a new Star Trek movie, arguably wound down three successful shows prematurely, it’s difficult to see that this leadership team has done well by the franchise.

Looking at the apparent expeditious compromises Paramount leadership and Shari Redstone were willing to make to clear the way for the sale, I’m willing to look forward to see what comes next.

 

We picked up some good deals from the promotion this week.

 

Several Star Trek licensed games are on Steam, now at a significantly discounted price for the annual Star Trek Day celebration.

These include the MMP Star Trek Online, but also single player games Star Trek Bridge Crew and Star Trek Resurgence (a choose your own path role play game).

We’d waited until Resurgence came to Steam, because we did want to buy it from Epic, but decided to be even more patient and wait for a sale so we could get it for our teens as well. I’ve been playing in parallel with one of our teens and debating the impacts of our very different choices.

I have had Bridge Crew since 2022, but we got copies for the teens yesterday. One is into it. It requires running an Ubisoft account synched to Steam which can be annoying, but otherwise G2G.

 

Having reached my exasperation on the total lack of information from Bell Media on a Canadian release, I asked @GoodAaron@mastodon.social if he or the Hagemans could share any information. Here is his reply on Mastodon.

It’s great to have EPs who will engage with us.

I’m still gearing up my recipes for a Star Trek Prodigy Soirée for the premiere!

In case you haven’t seen this, CBS entertainment sponsored a social media influencer to develop watch party ideas for the Prodigy Season 1 finale Supernova Soirée .

I’ve been experimenting and building on some of these ideas for the premiere of season two. One of Canada’s favourite ice cream brands has this interesting suggestion for A triple-berry yogurt sorbet float punch that seems very Star Trek Prodigy themed.

 

More departures of former Viacom senior executives from Paramount Global in the wake of Baklish’s firing.

 

The Directors Guild of Canada (Ontario) ‘Hot List’ compilation of Ontario-based production information has been updated with a new CBS Studios show ‘Ivory Tower’ to begin Accounting & Art Department preproduction in March.

 

While all TAS episodes had some kind of moral lesson, S1 E10 was an outright criticism of substance use.

M’Ress and Scotty, unwittingly exposed, end up enamoured then incensed with one another. One is never sure how different that is from a Caitian’s usual romantic style.

Chapel comes off badly in this one. As Spock puts it “A few moments of love, paid for with several hours of hatred.” It’s all the more poignant given SNW’s deepening of their backstory.

 
 
 

As much as most of us have long had any remaining interest in a fourth Kelvin movie long exhausted by the endless repetition of hype and failure, there does seem to be more confirmation of significant creative differences on the script that was in development in 2022.

James MacKinnon, longtime makeup designer, shared some context during an interview on his work on Picard and future ambitions. He explained that he was hired by Matt Shankman in 2022 to work on preproduction but was fired after a week when the work shut down.

“We were supposed to shoot in the middle of [2022] and it was supposed to come out the following year [2023], but I think a script rewrite went in a different direction.”

This aligns with previous comments from Zoe Saldaña that creative issues around the script were a factor in the movie not going ahead.

 

I have realized that I need a new editing tool that will let me use panels with more than 6 frames.

A private message with a recommendation would be appreciated sincerely.

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