I’m slightly fascinated by the proliferation and seemingly spreading-too-thin-ness of the “Star Trek” franchise by Paramount, Paramount+, and Viacom. Clearly, the franchise has stalled as a movie property; the films cost a certain amount and never recoup the way they should, and that fourth “Star Trek” movie is going to be in so much limbo, it’s easy to foresee the current cast just moving on. So, Paramount and Viacom have clearly retreated to television, putting the franchise all over CBS-All Access (now Paramount+) and seemingly going overboard. Currently, there’s have “Star Trek: Discovery,” the animated “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” “Short Treks” are seemingly over, and also there’s “Star Trek: Picard” (there’s also “Star Trek: Prodigy” in the works and “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds“). None of these series seem to garner much media attention, nor happen to be big ratings grabbers, and one would think the oversaturation of “Star Trek” on TV might kill it. Still, apparently, these shows do the numbers they’re supposed to, and the franchise just keeps on churning.
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This leads to the second season of “Star Trek: Picard.” Season one seemed to get decent ratings, but the end result might be the one you expected: this is just a show for hardcore “Star Trek” heads and isn’t really mandatory watching for Peak TV audiences.
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Created by Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer, and Alex Kurtzman (an expensive quartet if there ever was), ‘Picard’ features a retired Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) who had been deeply affected by the death of Data in the film “Star Trek: Nemesis” (2002) and the destruction of the planet Romulus in the film “Star Trek” (2009). The series picked up the pieces there and took him on new adventures with a cast that featured Alison Pill, Isa Briones, Evan Evagora, Michelle Hurd, Santiago Cabrera, Harry Treadaway with appearances by guests like including “The Next Generation” star Brent Spiner as Data, Jonathan Del Arco as Hugh, Jonathan Frakes as William Riker, and Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi, and “Star Trek: Voyager” actress Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine.
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Michael Chabon remains on as a writer and executive producer, but Terry Matalas moves on from showrunning, which definitely illustrates their need to adjust the show. Not too much more is known about season two, but Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan and this new teaser trailer hints at the return of John de Lancie as Q, an adversary from the “Star Trek: Generation” Days. And the series isn’t expected to return until 2022, but Paramount+ is apparently ok with still teasing it this far out. Check out the teaser below and let us know if you think we’re underestimating “Star Trek” or what.