492 – Paradise, Whoopi, and Pirates

This week on Episode 492 of Priority One: We ‘Trek Out’ Pirates, interviews and podcasts with some of the Leading Ladies of Trek, Star Trek Discovery’s Season 3 Finale, and the state of Star Trek Gaming.

This Week’s Community Questions are:

CQ: Has Saru earned the same level of reverence as Kirk, Picard, Sisko?

AND

CQ: If 2021 introduced a new Star Trek Game– what would you hope it would play like? Or if STO made sweeping changes, what do you hope they would be?

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!

TREK IT OUT

A Pirate’s Tale

By Elio LLeo

// story time //

Let me tell you a story… a story about a pirate… a digital pirate. Many moons ago, when the general public was strong-armed into agreeing to ridiculous cable-company contracts, bundles, and upsells — The Digital Pirate would “stick it to the man” by surfing the untamed web in search of desired content. Then, as if by some miracle of the gods, a company dared to challenge the status-quo. This company would soon help the lowly pirate set anchor and hang their pirate hat.
But, the evil cable companies weren’t very happy that this new trailblazer was luring customers away on the backs of their own infrastructure. Before long, the lowly viewer would again find themselves spending nearly the same amount per month subscribing to peacocks, all accesses, hulus, pluses and maxes… and more!
It wasn’t long before pirates set sail once again to find their most treasured content…. 

// end of storytime //

Let’s be clear… it’s wrong to pirate your shows from torrents or other rogue sites. And we, here at Priority One, would never encourage you to conduct illegal activities. But, what we can do is report on some interesting trends.

In an article published by Variety by Jamie Lang, we get an inside look of what the hottest pirated shows are for 2020. Where does Star Trek fit on that list? Well, from most to least popular: The Mandalorian, The Boys, Westworld, Vikings, and in the fifth spot: Star Trek: Picard. Now, Lang points out that these rankings don’t account for illegal streaming services but, we think this is a pretty accurate representation of Star Trek’s market share as a whole.

Michelle Paradise and Season 3

By Elio LLeo

While we’re on the topic of the Season Finale for Star Trek Discovery, Co-Showrunner Michelle Paradise spoke about the third season’s arc and what we might expect in Season 4 with TVLine’s Dave Nemetz. When asked about Michael Burnham’s journey towards the captaincy, Paradise had quite a bit to say… including how audiences pretty much expected that was where she’d end up. But, according to Paradise, it was all about the journey saying, //quote // So giving her the opportunity to come into this new future and be here for a year without the rest of our heroes on Discovery, and allowing her to grow and change during that time and come back and figure out where she fits in, it felt like the right kind of journey for the character. It also allowed us, over the course of Season 3, to find new layers for that character, and of course new layers for our amazing actress to play. 

But, where are we headed in Season 4? Well, Paradise couldn’t say much other than to try to paint a clearer picture about what the goal was for Season 3, describing it as  …all about connection and disconnection and finding our way back to one another. 

Now, what about that incredible quote from Gene Roddenberry at the end? Well, according to Paradise, its inclusion was a decision made during editing — a message to reflect our global state of affairs.

Paradise goes on to discuss Stamet’s relationship to Burnham after she tossed him out of an airlock, whether or not Saru will return (which he will), and Book’s impact on the crew.

Whoopi Goldberg on Star Trek: Picard

By Tony Hunter

The interviews continue with the leading ladies of Trek. First off, Whoopi Goldberg is kinda-sorta confirming her return as Guinan in Season 2 of Star Trek Picard. This reprise of the role is, of course, at the personal invitation of Sir Patrick, as delivered on national television last year on The View. Whoopi told SFX Magazine “Hopefully, I will be joining their cast for a little while next year. I’m very excited about that.”

And Sonequa Martin Green sat down with Vulture to talk about Season 3 of Discovery and Michael Burnham’s journey to the Big Chair. She says that this was always the plan, all the way back to Season one, with every Executive Producer from Berg to Paradise saying “Burnham would be on this journey of self-actualization that would also be the journey to the chair” For more about her views on Michael’s year of change and a promise that the Emerald Chain ain’t goin’ away next season, check out the link in the show notes.

NEW PODCAST ALERT!

By Cat Hough

Moving on to another iconic Woman of Trek… Back in September, our favorite Tap Dancin’ Doctor – Beverly Crusher, otherwise (in real life known as) Gates McFadden, announced that she will be hosting a podcast and she’s been busy recording episodes. So far, McFadden says she’s got episodes with Jonathan Frakes, Wil Wheaton, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, LeVar Burton and Marina Sirtis. 

Episodes are expected to start airing this month – but the podcast has yet to reveal the title. However- the company producing the podcast, The Nacelle Company, has produced several television series about pop culture – such as The Toys That Made Us and the The Movies That Made Us. As the company name suggests, the CEO and founder, Brian Volk-Weiss is a huge Trek fan.

ANOTHER AWARDS SHOW – THE SUPER AWARDS SHOW

By Cat Hough

Tired of having your favorite shows snubbed during awards season? Or really tired of your favorite shows only being nominated in categories like “best costume,” “special effects” or “editing?” Well, you are in luck – because there’s now an awards show just for genre fans – just like us!

This year, the Critics Choice Association decided it was time to start another – less boring – awards show. Called the Critics Choice Super Awards, it was created to specifically honor our favorite films and TV shows in the genres of action, horror, superhero, science fiction and fantasy. And the best part? You don’t have to sit through a litany of technical categories. In fact – the only categories included were the Bests — Movie, TV Series, Actor, and Actress — for each genre.

Star Trek was honored with several nominations. The franchise itself was also honored with the inaugural Legacy Award, to recognize  “the cultural impact it has had across multiple decades while continuing to appeal to and grow its loyal fanbase with new stories and characters.” 

Sir Patrick Stewart won for Best Actor for Star Trek: Picard. And while she was nominated for Best Actress, Sonequa Martin Green lost out to Natasia Demetriou for What we do in the Shadows.

Both Stewart and Martin-Green accepted the Legacy Award on behalf of the franchise. Stewart said that he and Green represented the “heart” of Star Trek. Though polar opposites on the outside — a young Black woman and an older white man — they represented the range of what Star Trek included, every kind of being imaginable. He went on to say that in these times, the inclusivity and hope provided by the Star Trek universe are needed more than ever.

Star Trek Gaming News

by Thomas Reynolds & Shane Hoover

Red Alerts Wherever We Go

By Thomas Reynolds

From now through January 26th, Star Trek Online’s having a party and you’re all invited! No, it’s not the 11th Anniversary event, but you really should attend. Please, for the love of the Great Bird, show up for this party. Because it’s not actually a party: it’s a Galactic Red Alert event. Every enemy of the Alliance is coming after us, and they’re not even bringing snacks. Rude.

Like all repeating daily events, playing one of five Red Alert TFOs each day grants progress towards a grand prize. This time, the magic number is 10 Daily Progress, and the grand prize package includes a Spec Point, Ultimate Tech Upgrade, and Experimental Ship Upgrade. Note that the Tzenkethi Red Alert still includes a fail condition that prevents you from getting your Daily Progress. Also, the Tholians want us to know they’re going gluten-free.

All the Discovery Ships Fit to Print

By Elio Lleo

If you’ve been holding out for a physical copy of your in-game U.S.S. Buran, I’ve got great news. According to this week’s PC patch notes, Gameprint’s now accepting Discovery-era ships and materials for export and printing. The full list of ships and material types now available will be in our shownotes. There’s no programmable matter option yet, but it’s only a matter of time.