STAR TREK: PICARD Executive Producers Say Their Exciting New Series is Both Familiar and Fresh

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede PASADENA, Calif. – The stars have finally aligned for STAR TREK: PICARD, which makes its highly anticipated debut Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on CTV Sci-Fi Channel. Fans have been eagerly waiting for the return of Jean-Luc Picard, played by Sir Patrick Stewart, for almost two decades. At the recent Television Critics Association event, the executive producers of STAR TREK: PICARD proudly set up their expansive new series, which is both warmly familiar and excitingly fresh: On how STAR TREK: PICARD is different from other STAR TREK projects: ALEX KURTZMAN, co-creator, executive producer, writer: “For the larger STAR TREK universe, I think the proposition is that every time you watch a STAR TREK show, it has to feel and look totally different from every other show. That’s the beauty of what we’re trying to build. If you’re looking at the show and thinking, ‘I could just get that on another show’, then we’ve failed. So the look of this feels more grounded. If you look at the season, you’ll see functions and chapters. The first chapter is really earthbound. It’s very rare that you see a lot of time spent on the planet Earth in the world of STAR TREK and we did not want to rush that. We wanted to take the time to show the condition of Picard’s life, and to watch him evolve to taking off into the stars.” Is STAR TREK: PICARD accessible to people who aren’t necessarily hardcore Trekkies? AKIVA GOLDSMAN, co-creator, executive producer, writer, director: “We were very conscious of ourselves and everybody in between. Many of us (executive producers) have very deep, long-standing relationships to STAR TREK. Our storytelling came from watching the original series, or the original series in syndication, or later iterations. We are STAR TREK fans. But we also believe that STAR TREK is a universal communication. We admire it the way fans admire it, with those kinds of aspirations for it. So we wanted the show to be equally enjoyable for us if we were to watch it, and for someone who had never seen an episode (of any previous STAR TREK series). We relied on the things that we think make good storytelling: drama, character, conflict, loss, yearning, the things that move us through our days. Given the gift of Patrick Stewart and this cast, we could tell a story that we hope will resonate with anyone.” On the split between actual science, probable science, and made-up science in STAR TREK: PICARD: MICHAEL CHABON, co-creator, executive producer, writer: “This series is very much character-based and character-driven. The technology that is represented in the show, we tried to make things as self-evident as we could, or as self-explanatory as we could. There is a huge storehouse of STAR TREK technology kind of already established that we could draw on, and I think in terms of actual techno-babble, we didn’t really do it very often. Pretty light. Sometimes I might try to slip a little in, and usually I was encouraged to take it back out, because it’s not needed.” On whether STAR TREK: PICARD is going to continue the STAR TREK tradition of subtly reflecting modern times: HEATHER KADIN, executive producer: “I think the best sci-fi always tries to mirror what’s happening in the world. This show has a story about refugee issues, about alien issues, I think questioning authority, questioning government, questioning decisions, taking things into your own hands. I think the best sci-fi is presenting you that, without hitting you over the head. So … hopefully.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv