On the Picard Project

[dewline]

The one that Sir Patrick Stewart announced in Las Vegas last weekend, specifically?

So he's returning to that character. It'll be 20 years after Nemesis when we next see Picard...and he'll have been through some changes.

I find that I'm okay with this. I still think the CBS All Access business model could backfire. But learning that Kirsten Beyer is as much at the heart of the Picard Project - I'm going to call it that until we get an official series title - as Stewart himself, I'm okay with this for now.

More as I consider the situation.

Comments

[julian]

Expand on the Kirsten Beyer aspect? I mean, why is her being involved good?

(Clearly, I am a naif on some of the behind the scenes aspects of things...)

[dewline]

She's been (a) writing Voyager novels for the last decade, and (b) she's been on the writing staff on Discovery for TV from almost the beginning. (Also, she acts as semi-official liaison "officer" between the TV production team and those novel-writers accepted to write the backstory books for DSC characters as published by Pocket Books.)

[julian]

Ah! Thank you.

[thewayne]

I really don't care. We haven't seen the new CBS Star Trek series, and we won't see any CBS Star Trek as we won't subscribe to their streaming service. If I eventually come across a DVD set for a reasonable price, then I may buy it.

[dewline]

I've been lucky in being able to watch via this channel on my cable dial. Space Channel - once subtitled "the Imagination Station" - is about to be rebranded as "CTV Sci-Fi" on Bell Media orders, I've heard. But for some reason I'm not quite clear on, Canada gets a pass on this "only streaming services" rule where the rest of the planet is concerned. Maybe it's because of the tax incentives they got out of filming in and around Toronto...?

And you will be able to get DSC Season One on DVD. That announcement went out on STLV Weekend too.

[jo]

It's because CBS had already licensed some of its bigger shows to Canadian broadcasters, e.g. Space got Discovery, CTV the Big Bang Theory -- they were looking to maximize revenue. So because they have exclusive rights to those shows in Canada, they won't be on the All Access service. Other shows that Canadian broadcasters air, but don't have exclusive rights to, will be included on the streaming service, but shown 7 days after they're broadcast on whatever Canadian network airs them.

For our shared future reference:

[dewline]

Everything that Bell Media currently owns:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_Bell_Media