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Jean-Luc Picard as a Borg

In a massive surprise annunciation at the Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas, Patrick Stewart announced what many fans of the franchise have wanted for over 15 years — he'due south returning to the office of Jean-Luc Picard, sometime Captain of the UsS. Enterprise fromStar Trek: The Side by side Generation. Unfortunately, like Star Expedition: Discovery, the new show will exist gate-locked behind the CBS All Admission online service. In that location'south also no discussion of any additional characters from the franchise (or the actors that played them) returning in new or different roles.

Merely earlier waxing rhapsodic about Stewart's return to the series, I'd like to know how serious the showrunners are almost trying to capture the tone and setting of the Trek series that take place in the 24th century — TNG, DS9, and Voyager. While these shows were somewhat different in focus — TNG generally avoided serialization, DS9 embraced it, while Voyager tended to take a heart basis, they shared a common grounding in applied science, arroyo to conflict, and civilisation. Kathryn Janeway, Benjamin Sisko, and Jean-Luc Picard are very unlike people, with different backgrounds, but they also conspicuously graduated from the aforementioned "school."

Picard and his smiley warp core

One of my favorite scenes.

Paramount and CBS, in contrast, seem to have both spent the last decade moving equally far away from this older, more staid version of Star Expedition equally quickly equally they could, via both the Abramsverse and Star Expedition: Discovery. I haven't seen all of Star Expedition: Discovery, merely the few episodes I did meet fabricated it clear that the tone of the new show is vastly different. Starfleet commanders in the 23rd century were apparently far more than willing to lead mutinies than I'd previously realized, and corruption, threats, and intimidation (or dubious ethical decisions) played a larger part in the mean solar day to day operations of starships than I'd previously been enlightened of.

I'g non proverb the new show is bad because information technology'southward edgy, or because its crew are more fallible and make worse decisions. Rather, I'd say that the ethical and moral dimensions of Jean-Luc Picard and the overarching Star Trek universe are often pointedly missing from Discovery, to the point that such views are rarely articulated at all. If you hated the way Star Trek characters sometimes moralized, this may be an comeback. If you valued information technology, it's a noted absence. Simply either fashion, the tone and type of bear witness that CBS is creating with Discovery doesn't seem to have much room for a Picard-similar graphic symbol, and the claim that the show takes identify in the "Prime" timeline are undercut every bit much past the differences in attitudes as they are past the differences in technology and costuming.

I will always be very proud to have been a part of Star Expedition: The Adjacent Generation, but when nosotros wrapped that last movie in the spring of 2002, I truly felt my fourth dimension with Star Expedition had run its natural course.  Information technology is, therefore, an unexpected merely delightful surprise to find myself excited and invigorated to exist returning to Jean-Luc Picard and to explore new dimensions within him. Seeking out new life for him, when I idea that life was over. During these past years, it has been humbling to hear stories near how The Next Generation brought people comfort, saw them through hard periods in their lives or how the example of Jean-Luc inspired so many to follow in his footsteps, pursuing science, exploration and leadership. I feel I'thousand ready to render to him for the same reason – to enquiry and experience what comforting and reforming light he might smooth on these often very dark times.  I look forward to working with our bright artistic squad as we endeavor to bring a fresh, unexpected and pertinent story to life over again. #StarTrek @cbsallaccess Photo: @shervinfoto

A mail shared by Patrick Stewart (@sirpatstew) on

In that location are so many interesting places a show like this could become, it'south near impossible to speculate. Moving the TNG timeline ahead by 16 years (the amount of time since Star Trek: Nemesis) would permit for new characters, political environments, and fresh technology development, without existence and so long as to make information technology impossible to revisit old characters and settings to catch upwardly with them. Simply the tone of the show will accept a profound impact on how much of a sequel it feels like to Star Expedition: The Next Generation, and based on how CBS has handled the show to-date, we're not all that optimistic about its futurity.

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