474 – Short Treks, Strange New Worlds, and Trexels | Priority One: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast

Jake Morgan 2020-08-21 583

This week on Episode 474 of Priority One — We ‘Trek Out’ Alex Kurtzman’s big feelings on Short Treks, where “Strange New Worlds” is heading, how you can get some free Trek, and WHO wants to be part of the Star Trek Franchise. In Gaming news, Timelines launches “Plateau of Tomorrow” and Star Trek Adventures proposes that it’s Good to be Bad!

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 Question Is:

CQ: During the COVID Pandemic, how are you listening to Priority One Podcast?

AND

CQ: What was your favorite Season 2 Short Trek? Which was your least favorite?

AND

CQ: If you could cast David Tennant in any role in Star Trek, which role would it be?

TREK IT OUT

by Jake Morgan

Alex Kurtzman Talks Short Treks

As the idiom goes – “Good things come in small packages”. Jewelry boxes – small. Puppies – small. Priority One Producer – small. Emmy nominated Star Trek program – small – or more precisely, Short.

This week, Star Trek Admiral Alex Kurtzman sat down with Deadline Senior Editor and Chief TV Critic Dominic Patten to talk about the Emmy nominated Short Treks “The Girl Who Made the Stars” and “Q&A”. In general, what Kurtzman likes about Short Treks is the series ability to explore things that would otherwise go unseen in the Star Trek multiverse – sometimes using different mediums. With regards to the animated “The Girl Who Made The Stars”, Kurtzman wanted to take the opportunity to emulate another animation house – Pixar.

Talking about “Q&A”, Kurtzman pointed out his love of “Waiting for Godot” and Hitchcock’s “Rope” and “Lifeboat”, citing the limited sets and how that challenge has the opportunity to ramp up the drama. He then told an interesting story about Picard Season 1 showrunner Michael Chabon, the writer of “Q&A”

Finally, Kurtzman talked about the challenges of making Short Treks, as well as what’s to come in future seasons. We’ll of course have the full video in our show notes, so be sure to trek it out!

Then Kurtzman Talks Strange New Worlds!

During Kurtzman’s sit-down with Dominic Patton on Deadlines “Contenders Television: The Nominees”, the conversation shifted from the Short Trek “Q&A” to the highly-anticipated “Strange New Worlds”. For those that don’t remember, “Strange New Worlds” is the recently announced live-action series that will focus on Anson Mount’s Christopher Pike, Ethan Peck’s Mr. Spock, and Rebecca Romijn’s Number One aboard the Enterprise, pre-Kirk. The bad news is that Kurtzman didn’t talk long about the upcoming series – but if we’ve learned anything from the previous segment, content doesn’t necessarily have to be long to be good!

Kurtzman minced NO words when he gave a synopsis of the show – and may we just say…SQUEEEEE!!!! And one more time for the people in the back – SQUUUEEEE!!!!

Excuse me.

Kurtzman then spoke to Pike and the crew’s optimism, and how Pike’s trauma could open interesting story-telling doors for the series.

Watch Short Trek Season 2 for Free!

If you haven’t seen any “so-called” NuTrek – that is to say any Star Trek launched on CBS All Access – and you are feeling a little left out, then we may have some good news. As a “For Your Consideration” Emmy push, CBS has made its entire second season of Short Treks available – absolutely free!

Reported by CNET, who’s parent company is ViacomCBS, the second season is free to view on CBS.com and youtube and includes “Q&A”, “The Trouble With Edward”, “Ask Not”, “Ephraim and Dot”, “The Girl Who Made the Stars”, and “Children of Mars”. We’ll link the Youtube videos to our show notes, so you can give them a watch from the comfort of Priority One Podcast.com! But don’t wait, you’ll only have access to the episodes until August 31st!

David Tennant Wants A Shot At Trek

Star Trek, in the United States particularly, is one of the founding fathers of nerd-pop culture. Even if you haven’t seen an episode of the original series, you probably know who Spock is or that Scotty will beam you up. In England, the same is likely true, but there is a franchise even older – even more popular than Trek – WHO knows what it is?

Doctor Who, of course. The series which first aired in 1963, three years before Star Trek, follows the adventures of a rogue time lord – known as the Doctor – and his companions. They travel through space and time using the TARDIS, a blue police box that was common in England in the mid-60’s. So why are we talking about Doctor Who on our Star Trek podcast? Because the tenth Doctor, and one of the most popular, wants a go at Trek.

In a Reddit AMA thread, David Tennant – who played the tenth Doctor from 2005 to 2010 – was asked which franchise he would most like to “Cross off his acting bucket list, Tennant responded ”Star Trek would be great. After talking to George Takei for the podcast I’ve got a bit immersed in it.”. According to SyFy.com, the podcast Tennant was referring to was “David Tennant Does A Podcast With….”.

There were several suggestions on who the former Who should play, but Trelane and Q both received quite a bit of Buzz. Q would be apropos, as SyFy points out. The Borg – which were introduced in the episode “Q Who” – were based on Doctor Who’s Cybermen.

Star Trek Gaming News

by Shane Hoover and Thomas Reynolds

Star Trek Timelines: “Plateau of Tomorrow”

From Thursday, August 20th to Monday, August 24th, Star Trek Timelines plumbs the darkest depths of the 20th century with the “Plateau of Tomorrow” Faction Event for the Dominion, Terran and Klingon Empires. The second part of The Capitoline Wolf story, this event features the new 5-star “Brigitte” Torres, 5-star Alicia Travers, returning 4-star Incognito Kirk, and recurring 5-star Humanoid Figure event crew. Equally new is the 5-star Aenar Jhamel faction reward, which will feature in the following week’s “Whistles and Canaries” Galaxy Event.

Star Trek Adventures: It’s Good to Be Bad

There are no villains who don’t have their reasons, said Mr. Welles–and now, there are eight fewer villains who don’t have stats either. The latest release for Modiphius Entertainment’s Star Trek Adventures, “Iconic Villains,” turns eight of Trek’s most celebrated baddies into fully playable non-player characters. The 15-page PDF-only document sells for US$5.22 for your tabletop gaming needs, and the accompanying miniatures set will set you back US$52.34 once Modiphius has more of them to sell. However one of the featured foes is none other than Q himself, which makes us wonder: what does God need with a stat block?

Check-Out Time for Trexels II

If you’ve been interested in developer YesGnome’s Trexels II mobile game, but never got around to playing it, you have until the end of this month to get it in gear. On August 14th, YesGnome announced on Facebook that “the time has come…to part ways.” Trexels II will no longer be available on the Google Play or Apple App Stores as of September 1st, but it is not going away entirely. The game servers will still be maintained after that date “until further notice.”