
Patrick Stewart Returns as Jean-Luc Picard for a New Star Trek Series - hdivider
https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/04/patrick-stewart-is-returning-to-the-role-of-jean-luc-picard-for-a-new-star-trek-series/
======
philipov
My god, Patrick Stewart looks like he hasn't aged in 30 years.

On another matter, does anyone else wonder who at TechCrunch thought it was a
good idea to make scrolling to the bottom of the page be an automatic redirect
away from the article?

~~~
couldnthairless
One of the benefits of early male pattern baldness. :)

~~~
dcwca
What are some others please

~~~
elorant
You're saving on haircuts and shampoo.

~~~
dghughes
Shampoo yes, haircuts no same cost as unbald people :(

~~~
andrewingram
I don’t understand, I’ve (mostly) been using an electric beard/body hair
trimmer to shave my head for the last 11 years.

~~~
dghughes
Cost at a barber shop. If you go to one the cost for a haircut is the same for
a man whether he is bald or not. And I get a #2 clipper all over too done in
two minutes $25 plus tip.

Sure at home with an electric razor would be cheap but I tried and I can't get
reach the back of my neck very well and it looks bad.

------
danso
I’m surprised he’s 78 but not too worried that that’ll weaken his performance.
According to IMDB, Stewart lost 21 pounds for the movie “Logan” [0] in order
to portray a sickly Prof. Xavier. Dropping weight as a wrestler was incredibly
painful even as a HS wrestler, so I think he must be very healthy for a man in
his late seventies to even consider such a regimen.

If anything, Stewart’s old age will be an asset. The final TNG movies had him
acting as an action hero; now the new show will be inclined to have more
cerebral conflicts.

[0]
[https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3315342/trivia?ref_=m_tt_trv_trv](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3315342/trivia?ref_=m_tt_trv_trv)

------
dghughes
The best part about Star Trek The Next Generation was the fantastic writing,
the focus on science and the guidance of young viewers throughout the series.
I bet there were many people inspired to go into science as a result of the
show both TNG and TOS.

As much as I enjoyed the other Treks and current Trek they seem almost self-
absorbed, caring more for looks and ratings (I guess they have to) than story
telling caring about the viewers. DS9 was pretty good but the producers made
stupid, spiteful changes near the end, same for Enterprise.

You have to wonder what has changed that doesn't allow a series like Star Trek
to be itself and instead cater to people seeking only explosions, swearing and
banal story lines.

~~~
untog
I've actually enjoyed Discovery quite a lot. I think it's easy to see the old
series through rose tinted glasses and forget the extremely subpar episodes,
focusing only on the best. In my opinion Discovery has been inconsistent, but
far less so than, say, the first season of TNG. That said, I'm still irate
they set it in the past. There's no reason for it - even the tech that forms a
major plot point feels generations beyond Voyager!

I hope this new Picard show is something entirely different. Given that it'll
air alongside Discovery I see no reason for it to be another "explore the
galaxy" setup.

~~~
nikanj
Does Discovery eventually stop being Action Trek? I watched the first
episodes, and it seemed to be grimdark filled with lousy people.

TNG showed an evolved mankind, valuing such obscure things as kindness, non-
violent solutions, and generally not being asshole.

~~~
preek
It doesn’t. I’m 35 and have seen TNG three times in my lifetime. The last time
I saw Discovery immediately afterwards. My fiancé insisted on stopping the
series. I pulled myself through, alone. It got worse every episode. One of the
worst series I have ever seen.

------
brandonmenc
Not a fan of dwelling on old characters, but at least this moves the Trek
timeline forward.

The latest episode of Trek - as the fictional timeline goes - Nemesis - is 16
years old.

It's criminal that a franchise whose overarching theme is optimistic futurism
has been looking backwards for so long.

------
lobotryas
It boggles my mind why creatives seem to always think that the audience wants
"something different". You had a good thing going. Change up a few elements,
improve a dew things, but give us more of the awesome formula that created a
phenomenon in the first place. I would hate to see Stewart's latest effort go
down the same drain as Enterprise and Discovery.

~~~
petemill
Different times. He stated that he’s only now excited about returning to the
role, and hadn’t previously been the last 20 years, because he sees how bleak
many people’s outlook is about the world right now. He himself has
uncharacteristically begun watching the TNG episodes for a dose of hope. So I
think we will find the federation in a state of dis-unification (earth exiting
the union? immigration problems?) and perhaps even Picard struggling to find
and build hope.

~~~
theclaw
That and the fact that his last popular role was an animated poo, which
probably made a return to Trek seem like a big step up.

~~~
cm2012
He is also hilarious as the CIA director in American Dad.

------
modernerd
I love Patrick Stewart in Trek but, for me, his finest piece of acting will
always be the quadruple take masterclass:

[https://youtu.be/XFMrBldVk0s](https://youtu.be/XFMrBldVk0s)

------
kyriakos
Finally, I hope this has a hopeful version of the future like TNG

~~~
jrmg
Yes, though I’m enjoying ST:Discovery, WestWorld, and The Expanse, I really
miss optimistic sci-fi.

Is there anything like that out there now that I’m missing?

~~~
klausjensen
The Star Trek-clone "The Orville" is just that - with some added Seth
Macfarlane humor.

I expected absolutely nothing from it but ended up really enjoying it. Only
one season out so far.

~~~
nabla9
Orville is clearly made by someone who loves star trek. It's a comedy but it
has good stories that could have been TNG episodes.

~~~
empyrical
His love of trek has been life long - he even made a fanfilm as a teenager!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn_Sgcxg5PQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn_Sgcxg5PQ)

------
theclaw
I'm betting this will take the form of a clipshow where old Picard and Riker
get drunk in a vineyard and remember the good old days.

------
phkahler
...available on CBS’ online subscription/original content service, CBS All
Access.

Yeah, another subscription service. Sorry Jean-Luc, you've been assimilated
for real this time.

~~~
3rdAccount
Isn't that what cable was? Only this one you can buy for a month, binge, and
cancel. It isn't all that bad.

~~~
phkahler
TNG was over the air.

We're in a strange phase right now where these individual companies are
creating content and you have to subscribe to each one. It's somewhere between
cable where you pay one company for access to a whole lot, and paying for
individual productions. Everyone thinks they can be the go-to place if they
just produce some good stuff that you can get only from them. For me it's just
too much bother, and if it say "CBS" I'm kinda wondering why it's not OTA in
the first place.

I'll pick it up when if/when it's on blueray or <gasp> DVD.

~~~
3rdAccount
They know OTA is dead and are trying to position themselves to not be beholden
to Netflix, Hulu...etc, although that would be easier on us.

------
warent
Meta: Someone tried posting this same article yesterday and it was flagged.
Now it's not flagged this time. Hacker News herd mentality?

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17688773](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17688773)

------
ChuckMcM
Maybe the arc will be him talking down an evil Wesley Crusher who is ravaging
the federation in his mind controlled hyper warp ship :-).

More seriously I wonder how members of TNG feel about this move. The original
voyage cast got 7 movies the TNG cast got 4, and the Abrahms crew has at least
3 movies (probably 4 if IMDB is to be believed)

So the cynic in me thinks this is just a grab at trying to save the Discovery
series from an early demise (like the Enterprise series) by trying to slot in
a character from a successful show. This worked at least once with ST:DS9
after all.

~~~
vesh
He is not joining Discovery it is going to be a new series.

------
knolan
How does this fit into the new timeline that the Abrams reboot creates? Will
the new Picard series be in the TNG timeline?

~~~
klondike_
The JJ Abrams movies have never been in the same timeline as the TV shows so
the new show will be in the same timeline as TNG

~~~
ronnier
Are the Abrams movies even Star Trek? Feels nothing like ST.

~~~
kyriakos
They are action movies. Star trek was never about action.

~~~
rainbowmverse
This has always been Star Trek's dichotomy. Many ships called Enterprise have
been blown up (in a permanent, non-time travel magic way), and it happened in
the movies.

The movies are action. The series are where the characters and universe are
built.

~~~
nikanj
Just messing up a ship doesn't make it action. For a canonical example, see
the Titanic.

~~~
rainbowmverse
Star Trek movies are like if the Titanic had to fight off the combined fleets
of all WW1 and WW2 powers.

There's a reason the ships get blown up.

------
ashtube
I'm quite surprised at this to be honest. I saw Patrick outside the Old Vic in
London last year when he attended the Theatre Awards, and he looked very
frail. Maybe it was a temporary thing that has now got better, but didn't
expect to see him in another big movie.

------
maxerickson
I bet it's a smaller role where he (more or less) plays Boothby.

