This week, we’re Trekking Out Jonathan Frakes’s latest spoiler, and what actor James McAvoy would do if he got to play young Picard. Heather Kadin and Alex Kurtzman chat in The Ready Room about upcoming Short Treks, and Paramount top-brass discuss the future of Star Trek on the Silver Screen.
In Star Trek Online and gaming news, we’re talking about the Mirror of Discovery mission episodes featuring Captain Sylvia “Killy” and the mysterious planet Pahvo.
by Jake Morgan
If you were excited to see Patrick Stewart reprise his role as the iconic CAPTAIN Picard, then Sir Patrick’s Next Gen co-star – Jonathan Frakes – may have some bad news for you.
The incomparable Jonathan Frakes was busy promoting Star Trek: Discovery’s season 2 episode “New Eden”, and in classic Frakes fashion, spilled the proverbial #treknuggets. In an interview with Deadline, Frakes slips “Patrick isn’t playing Capt. Jean-Luc Picard this time, he’s done with [that phase of his career in] Starfleet in this show. That’s about the only thing I do know about the show.”
While this really isn’t BREAKING NEWS, it does confirm theories that Picard has moved on from the center seat. Frakes also commented on the likelihood of a Star Trek: The Next Generation reunion taking place on Picard’s show, saying “The feeling is we would love to be part of it. But the feeling is also that it’s Patrick’s show. [Laughs.] Having said that, I can’t imagine a world where there’s no reference to what happened to the rest of the Next Generation cast.”
When the unnamed Picard series was first announced – back at Star Trek Las Vegas 2018 – there were a few stars that made a pitch to join the production. One such star was former-young-Patrick-Stewart – James McAvoy. Well, if you thought McAvoy was just being cheeky…think again.
In an interview with MTVNews, McAvoy was given the opportunity to promote himself for the role of Young Picard, to which he replied “I’m Jonesin for some Trekkin’ man. I will take you where no Star Trek fan has gone before. I will reveal things about Jean-Luc Picard that nobody even wanted to see. I will rip this captain to shreds.”
McAvoy, who was smiling during the previous quote, later said “No, I’m not expecting to get a call to play the young Jean-Luc, unfortunately. But I will be tuning in and I can’t wait to see what he does because he’s a brilliant actor and he’s amazing in that role …They’re doing something different, and that’s awesome.”
Would you want to see James McAvoy as a young Picard in the upcoming series? Would you like to see someone else in the Young Picard role? Would you like the series to remain focused on an aged Picard?
This week kicked-off the After Trek replacement, The Ready Room. Hosted by Naomi Kyle, the Star Trek: Discovery companion’s first webisode had the host sitting across from Discovery Executive Producers Alex Kurtzman and Heather Kadin. The nearly 14 minute interview covered story threads – including Kadin’s verification that the Spock/Burnham relationship is THE story of season 2; rumor clarification – emphatically shooting down the rumor that Spock and Burnham will have a romantic relationship; and talk about upcoming productions.
Kadin and Kurtzman discussed the draw to Short Treks, pointing to an ability to tell fun stories in different ways. When asked what was next for Short Treks, Kadin replied “We’re doing two more for this season, that are animated. Not at all like what we’re doing with Lower Decks, which is going to be our new animated show, so a completely different style of animation. And I think they’re also going to answer some questions of things that we’ve dropped into the first season that maybe you didn’t even know you’ve had questions about, but we’re going to fill in some blanks.”
Our community question last week asked if Star Trek was dead on the silver screen. It turns out Paramount Studios Producer Wyck Godfrey doesn’t think so.
In a New York Times article outlining the future of Paramount Pictures, Godfrey stressed the importance of Paramount’s making “movies that stand the test of time”. The article, which is at times scathing, says that Godfrey has an interest in breathing new life into “big-budget, global audience movies” – including “Star Trek”, “Terminator,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” and “G.I. Joe”. An excerpt from the article reads “Imagine, for instance, Paramount giving ‘Star Trek’ to Quentin Tarantino. ‘Suddenly people’s eyes light up,’ Mr. Godfrey said. ‘Yours just did.'”
by Anthony Cox
It’s been a long road. Getting from there to here. It’s been a long time… since Star Trek Online boldly went where no MMO had gone before. As part of the ninth anniversary celebration Cryptic has released some statistical information. Over 7 million Captains are in command of over 550 playable starships. The community has spawned nearly 40,000 fleets and you can experience 180 episode missions featuring over 30 Star Trek actors. That’s more episodes than any single Star Trek television show. It truly is a great time to be a Star Trek fan. And with Star Trek booming on the small screen again, the skies the limit.
Also with the ninth anniversary we were treated to the debut of Mirror Universe Captain Sylvia “Killy” and the ISS Discovery. Chief Scientist Somat from the Vulcan Science Academy has asked for your assistance in regaining contact with their science team on the planet Pahvo. You arrive at the planet during a forshadowing Ion Storm. Soon into your investigation the ISS Disocovery appears along with a slew of Klingon ships. Upon making contacting with Discovery’s commanding officer you’re surprised to learn she is seeking asylum and requests your assistance with repelling the Klingons. After a brief space battle, then some boarding party action on the Discovery herself, you meet with Captain “Killy” on the bridge. Her intenstensions seem to be sincere and she apparently hates bad language. During the second space battle the DIscovery swing by the planet and drops “Killy” off. Then, just we think the Klingons have the upper hand, a massive energy blast from Pahvo takes out several of the Klingon ships. Killy then threatens you and demands that you leave.
In the second episode you return to Pahvo to confront the Terrans. Making your way to the surface you discover that the Terrans have used Agonizer technology to corrupt the Pahvans and their planet. “Killy” has weaponized the Pahvan signal spire and which threatens the entire galaxy. During the mission Somat and the Vulcan security forces become temporarily linked to the Pahvans, causing them to rage against your away team. After disabling Somat and company, and making your way to Pahvan spire, you engage in battle against “Killy” and her forces. Once the battle is over “Killy” monologues for a bit in order to allow her escape plan to activate. She disappears into the cosmos and you now have to deal with getting Discovery back to its proper time. After keeping the Klingons at bay and setting up satellites in the Ion Storm, you barely return Discovery to the 23rd century in one piece.
Elio is a Northern New Jersey Cuban-American and graduate of Kean University, having earned his Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Performance in 2011. He has performed in internationally renowned performance halls such as Avery Fisher Hall with the New York Philharmonic, as a member of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, and in Beijing, China as a representative for Kean University. Since 2012, he has had the wonderful opportunity to Executive Produce Priority One – the premiere Star Trek Online podcast. Whether recruiting, managing the global team of talented volunteers, arranging interviews with special guests, editing, web-development, finding sponsors, managing crowd funding, or writing content for the podcast, Elio has a hand in it all. A long-time Trekkie, Elio has been watching the series since he was a child and sneaking in late night, back-to-back, episodes of TNG reruns. He finally embraced the Trekdom in college and spent many hours catching up on the entire multiverse…. instead of studying.
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Mike Wetjen on 2019-02-08
Ha! Donut manoeuvre: All the lols! Been pulling those since early 2409 and it was great to see it in Disco! (and that’s how the girls fly starships! Paris, eat your heart out!)
Hey guys, @berthulf here to say Gratz on another great show. Great to hear Winters again too.
Yeah, I know I’m late to the episode. #life.
Thank you for mentioning Tom Hardy, Elijah. He played a young SirPatStew long before McAvoy, and will always be my young Jean-Luc… which is something I rather hope the writers will steer clear of.
Also… Mirror T’Ket?
Tyler Maxwell on 2019-02-05
McAvoy as young Picard in the new show? Sure, as long as we get young and old Professor X in the show too. :p
Really, I guess it depends on what parts of Picard’s timeline are part of the
story. McAvoy is just about to reach his 40s, which is almost where
SirPatrickStew was when he first started in TNG. Obviously, he wouldn’t
be redoing that chunk of Picard’s life (if the new
show writers have any sense at all), so maybe McAvoy
could portray Picard’s last years aboard the Stargazer? Though I can’t
think of a lot of untouched story bits during that period that were
particularly interesting.
seannewboy on 2019-02-04
Great show everyone, excellent job. Love the new page layout.
I would love to see McAvoy do some more young picard.
I wonder how accurate all of those stats from STO are, i know WOW tried adding up all characters ever made when they did things like that, even the ones since deleted. They did the same with accounts.
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