465 – Cruz, Goldsman, and Quaid Talk Trek | Priority One: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast

This week on Episode 465 of Priority One — We ‘Trek Out’ Culber’s focus on mental health, Goldsman’s tease of Picard season 2, Jack Quaid’s initiation into Trek-stardom, Gossipy-Gossip, and a teeny-tiny set!

Of course, as always, before we wrap up the show, we’ll open hailing frequencies for your incoming messages

Let us know on social media like Facebook, Twitter, or by visiting our website!

This Weeks Community Questions Are:

CQ:  Are you excited to see more “Starfleet” in season 2 of “Picard”, or would you prefer the second season to focus on something else entirely?

TREK IT OUT

by Jake Morgan

Wilson Cruz on Culber’s Mental Health

What would it feel like to be resurrected – Pulled from the clutches of death, returned into the land of the living? The wholly unusual event must be disconcerting – being one of the few people pulled from eternal oblivion. Just ask Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Worf, Wesley Crusher, Janeway, Picard – or Dr.Hugh Culber. Wilson Cruz, the actor who portrays the resurrected Doctor – Culber not McCoy – discussed the effects of breathing again with Yahoo Entertainment’s “The Talk”.

Cruz told “The Talk” that he didn’t originally know his character was going to be killed, but was glad to receive a call shortly after to reprise the role. During those conversations, Cruz made it clear that he didn’t want Culber’s death to be meaningless “So many times we see these LGBQ characters, especially gay characters, killed off on our series, and there’s no cost. It’s as if it never happened. And I wanted there to be growth in this. He needed to learn something from it, we all did. So, I was excited about the epic way he was brought back”

Cruz continued, dropping a few hints about what to expect in Discovery’s third season ”I’m more excited about how he’s grown in season 3 – how he’s used this experience to kind of inform the way that he works on the ship. And so, we’ll see more of how he works as a doctor, but also how he’s taking into consideration mental health.”

Akiva Goldsman Talks Picard’s Second Season

Wilson Cruz wasn’t the only Trek-insider to talk about the future of a Star Trek series. Writer, Director, Show runner, and now prolific video interviewee Akiva Goldsman discussed Star Trek: Picard’s first season, and what we may expect going forward.

Goldsman told IndieWire’s Christian Blauvelt that the introduction of Altan Inigo Soong, played by the incomparable Brent Spiner, served a bigger purpose than simply moving the narrative. ”We knew that this Soong character had been in our head canon when it came to the season, anyway. But, you know, we want more Brent, and we wanted to create a platform for which there could be more Brent in ensuing seasons”

In regards to the introduction of the Riker-led Starfleet Armada in “Et in Arcadia Ego — part II,” Goldsman acknowledged ”We knew that bringing in that fleet was a little bit of a promise, and so we tried to be thoughtful about it”. The video interview ends there, but in the article that accompanies the video, Goldsman is quoted as saying ”Especially as we go forward, we’re going to start making statements about really what the world of Starfleet, at least technologically if not socially and culturally … These are the things that are likely to get a little bit more play than they did [in Season 1] in what was essentially a story about somebody who is outside of Starfleet.”

For more on the development of Picard’s first season, including the inspiration for the 2390’s ship design, be sure to trek out the link in our show notes.

Jack Quaid Describes “Lower Decks”

If you’re involved in Trek, no matter what else you are working on or promoting, you WILL talk about your Trek involvement – and Jack Quaid had his first lesson in this. The star of the upcoming animated comedy “Lower Decks” sat down with Entertainment publication Gold Derby to promote season 2 of the popular Amazon Prime series, “The Boys” – and as sure as the sun rises, Star Trek was addressed.

Quaid, who plays “Lower Decks” Ensign Brad Boimler, admitted he wasn’t sure about a release date, telling Gold Derby ”I don’t know when it’s coming out. I know I’ve recorded most of my stuff for it but it’s a new “Star Trek” show, it’s animated, it’s from Mike McMahan, who’s one of the writers on “Rick and Morty” and he’s frickin’ hilarious.”

Like the aforementioned McMahon, Quiad stressed the comedy is for both trek fans – like self-proclaimed “trek nerd”, Gold Derby reporter Kevin Jacobsen – and non-trek fans ”If you are a huge “Star Trek” nerd[…]you’re gonna get a lot of the references and a lot of the deep cut jokes, but I think even if you’re new to it, I think it’s something really cool to introduce you to the “Star Trek” universe as well. Me speaking personally, I didn’t know a ton about it when I got cast. I had seen the J.J. Abrams movies but now I’m into it.”

Kirk-shipping May Be Canon?

You want gossip, Captains? You’ve got it. We head back to the questionable “WeGotThisCovered” for our next story, so be sure not to take this Gossip as Gospel.

If you’ll remember back in episode 460 of Priority One, we told you about the RUMORED casting of a young James T. Kirk for the upcoming Pike/Spock/Number 1 series, “Strange New Worlds”.  This week, WeGotThisCovered has doubled down on the rumor, claiming that not only are they casting Kirk for the series, but he may be Bisexual. According to the site ”Trusted insider Daniel Richtman has revealed on Twitter that sources are telling him Kirk could end up being portrayed as bisexual in SNW.”

You may be surprised to find out that the Original Kirk – William Shatner – had an opinion on the matter. On June 14th, Shatner TWEETED ”I suppose some of you want my reaction to the article from the “never heard of them before & clickbait rules” site on their scoop on bisexual Kirk? If @CBS,@Alex_Kurtzman & @Startrek decide  to make Kirk bisexual to align with cancel culture presentism; then it’s OK 👍 by me.”

In case you just tuned in and missed the fact that we emphasized this is rumor and gossip – This is rumor and gossip! But it sure is fun to talk about it.

Fan Creates Mini-TNG Bridge

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – Star Trek fans are the best! Don’t believe us? Then obviously you haven’t seen the video posted to Youtube by Geoff Collard.

On June 7th, Collard shared a walk-through of the TNG bridge. Other than the slightly-clunky turbolift doors, the set looked impressive, to say the least. It became wholly more impressive when, in a twist, the video pans out to reveal the set is actually a 1/15th model replica!

In an interview with BBC, Collard says it took him over 500 hours to build, noting ”Well in this lockdown, it was the perfect thing to get on with really. I was loving it actually.  I was working here until about Seven O’Clock at night,and my wife was getting fed up. She’s going ‘You spend more time doing that model than you do doing ordinary work.”

Time wasn’t the only investment made by Collard. He noted ”I kept a check on the time I spent on it, and it worked out at 17,000  Pounds”. For more of Collard’s impressive work, ‘trek out’ his facebook page at or website at modelmakers.com

Star Trek Online and Gaming News

by Tony Hunter

A Continued Call

Captains – a week has passed since we published our Editorial, Silence Speaks Volumes.

As of this recording – Cryptic has not yet announced plans for actionable support of social equality or even a statement of support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Nor have they replied to our editorial. Nor have they responded to a private message from Elijah to contacts at Cryptic and Perfect World.

This is unfortunate.

However, we’ve been delighted, and a little bit humbled, by the response to the post on our website. But, truth be told, it wasn’t uniformly supportive. It’s likely that some folks think maybe there’s really no point in calling on Cryptic, a video game company, to issue a public statement on racism. Even if they did, it wouldn’t be real, anyway, just performative allyship and corporate wokeness warm fuzzies. And even if there was a donation or sponsorship, it would only be a token gesture with no follow-through that actually addressed the underlying problems.

Y’know, now that I think about it, who are we to even address this topic? I mean, a latino, a white woman, a native american, and a BUNCH of white dudes, who do we think we are, lecturing people about how Black Lives Matter? And, come on, this is a GAME podcast, a podcast that has enjoyed YEARS of privileged access and cozy relationships with the company whose game we covered exclusively. I mean, the unmitigated GALL we have to jeopardize that status and that access.

On the other hand, maybe the days of “not my problem” are gone now. Maybe the idea of “see something, say something” needs to apply to civil rights violations, too. Maybe we’ve all been lazy and complacent and we bear some responsibility for letting things get to this point. The point where the 2024 Bell riots from Deep Space Nine are an actual possibility. Remember, for all the positive vision of the future Trek holds, Gene Roddenberry predicted a resurgence of eugenics and a third world war before we get to the utopia part. 

Bottom line, we firmly believe that our call to action is 100% “in our lane” when it comes to the world of Star Trek, and Cryptic Studios in particular. Because once upon a time, the Star Trek Online dev team handed out postcards called Elios – not “Elijahs” – as a reward for good work. Because we’ve spent nine years telling them when they’ve done well AND when they’ve missed the mark. Because Gene didn’t leave a road map to the stars where the content of our character always means more to people in power than the color of our skins. We’ve got to build that road ourselves. And it starts by telling your friends that they need to pick up a shovel and join the line. Just do something, because the days of doing nothing are over.

So, here’s what we’re doing. Saturday, June 27, from 12pm to 6pm Eastern, we’re hosting an internet telethon with some very special Star Trek guests to join us online for interviews and fundraising. For about an hour each, we’re going to ask you to vote with your wallets, literally, by donating to the Movement for Black Lives while they’re with us. What are you voting for? Well, everyone’s done dramatic Shakepeare readings, that’s EASY. But how about a dramatic and interpretive reading of popular children’s nursery rhymes? That’s a challenge! THAT’S unique! THAT’S your chance to hear the glorious victory over the vicious villain Humpty Dumpty, read in the original Klingon! Join us Saturday, June 27th, from 12pm to 6pm to raise money for the Movement for Black Lives!

Tagged as: Goldsman, Lower Decks, BLM, Roddenberry, Culber, CBS, Akiva, Rumors, Star Trek, Quaid, ViacomCBS, Models, Cruz, Kirk, Event.