Paramount+ Star Trek: Picard - Season Three (2 Viewers)

[Philip Verdieck]

One more thing on this idea: it has the hook (the TNG cast coming back for a movie), but it doesn't help cultivate the next generation (no pun intended) of fans. They're relying on characters and concepts 30, 40 and 50 years old at this point. It speaks to an inability all around to create new characters an audience wants to see. This isn't just a Trek problem; it's a Marvel problem, it's a DC Comics problem, it's a Star Wars problem, it's a media problem.

If it's not Tony Stark and Chris Evans in a Marvel movie, the pitchforks come out. Do something different and daring with Luke and Han, the world is coming to an end. If your show isn't an NCIS, FBI or Law and Order show, it struggles to gain traction. Maybe this is the death knell of scripted television and all of us are just fighting it.

Maybe its about throwing more than nostalgia at the screen. I liked S3 of Picard, but I really don't want to watch those geriatrics struggle to convincingly do action. I have TNG for that.

I also don't want SW limited to the original trilogy cast.

Mandalorian did great. Andor was appreciated. Kenobi was a fail. Not sure about the Ashoka numbers.

Rogue One was great.

Solo would have been better if it wasn't making excuses for Lucas, also if the nimrods running it originally weren't going totally off the reservation.

The Sequel trilogy relied heavily on recycling Original trilogy scripts (2) and then was a chaotic mess for part 3.

So its no wonder that now, they are basing the next SW movie on Mandalorian and Ashoka (IIRC). They worked and aside from some CGI Luke, they didn't revolve around the original cast.

I don't think its a scripted television issue, its a lazy, stupid, can't do anything original television problem. And its become more and more obvious that the powers that be in Hollywood are a bunch of lazy bums who are recycling at least half the stuff they are producing or just cranking out formulaic tripe or the nth movie in a series.

When it comes to Marvel, the stronger well named characters succeed (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor). Some of the lesser ones can do very well also (Doc Strange, Black Widow). However, basing a movie around a series of little known nobodies (Immortals) isn't a recipe for success. Nor is banking on unknown teen superheroes (Miss Marvel). I think they also ran into their own cleverness problem, thinking Secret Wars or umpteen Multiverse stories were the way to go. It worked in small doses when done exquisitely (Loki) but didn't need to become the focus of a major phase and be essential to multiple motion pictures (Doc Strange, Antman, etc). I also think its a pretty deep and layered concept which works fine for comic nerds but isn't a win with the average viewer. So don't go whole hog on the concept.

It also turned out that a minor character (She-Hulk) was a great series and might have stuck around if it didn't have budgetary issues.