A Whole Other Podcast

I just want to open up with how honoured and grateful I am for everyone who participated in Talkily (16/26 season 1 eps edited baby!), upcoming Cheesily which is now in the planning stages (we had Laura hooked up to 4 mics on Sunday… 3 of which I remembered to turn on!) and of course the current podcasting project, Trekily!

Reviewing Sunday’s first recorded episode of Trekily presented some issues that resulted in me needing to do some soul searching and re-evaluating of what Trekily was/is going to be.

So just a little bit about Sunday’s recorded episode for TREKily and what I’ve learned from it.

Cool Discuss: TREKily – The Cage

So we did what will become known as The Cage (unaired Trek pilot) of the Cool Discuss series on Sunday. A bit of burnout led to me making some rookie mistakes that lead to some technical issues and perhaps not the best planned first episode for Trekily.

While I certainly could edit it and it was definitely watchable/listenable I kept thinking that we could have touched on this person, this episode, and really explored that, we should have mentioned that, etc. Ultimately there’s just way too much of any of the series that could be fit into one episode and really do any of them justice.

One example wasn’t even in the episode but in the pre-show (always provides material for bloopers Quickilys, and Talkily RAWs where Christian often threatens the audience). Mel talked about 7 of 9 and how cool it was that she was going to be on Picard so I remember thinking, I’m going to ask Mel to talk about 7. In the episode Laura brought up the subject of parent main characters, Syd and I talked about our favourite eps, etc. We touched on the main characters, the side characters, etc. but all of what we talked about was just a scratch on the surface, and in the end, the episode as a whole felt lacking overall.

To be clear, this was due to my poor planning in outlining the episode. Sometimes you just know a subject really well and think talking about it will be easy, but when you’re planning out an episode for strangers you come to realize that structure isn’t just needed for the hosts but the listeners as well.

Everyone was great in the episode (we really were. I’m now realizing that we should have started recording ourselves years ago lol) but it looked and felt like a Talkily episode. While the format we had really worked for Talkily and the easy light fare subjects, they did not work so well for Trekily as I felt the episode encountered the same issue we successfully avoided with Takily, in that if we do a very specific subject that we know people will be very passionate about, it needs to be planned out and thought out with care.

This is something I didn’t do on Sunday lol. So what to do?

TREKILY FORMAT: The Next Generation

If Talkily is going to be our light fare talk show about nothing with 20-26 episodes per season, and Cheesily will be our more sophisticated hand held show where Laura fills us with Cheese, then Trekily will be our couch review show where we can do deep dives into the very specific subjects related to Star Trek.

Trekily will move from the broadcasting desk to the YouTube couch as we switch up the format for the show to both streamline production and differentiate itself from Talkily and Cheesily. Each episode will feature 2-3 people at a time per episode with a running time goal of approximately 6-10 minutes (15 min max).

The primary goal would be to review the newest Star Trek episodes. The secondary releases would focus on character reviews, ships, ship classes, technologies, etc, which would be released in during the show hiatuses.

While the video portion will have us sitting on a couch as we talk, we will be fading to pics/videos of whatever we’re talking about during each episode. We’ll be employing fair use laws to try to keep ourselves from getting take down notices, copyright strikes etc. as we WILL be images/videos without permission but in an editorial fashion.

Another switch up is that while Syd and I would be leading many episodes, there also won’t be a dedicated host in the same sense that Talkily had. Instead we’d be following a guideline of points to bring up as the episode progresses.

SHOW FLOW

  1. The show hosts introduce themselves followed by the episode topic.
  2. Opening Credits
  3. Supporting Arguments / Episode reflection / Show content
  4. Final Thoughts
  5. Call to action and Thanks

TREKILY Episodes:

  • Episode Review Episodes
    • Reviews of new Picard, Discovery Episodes, Lower Decks
  • Character Review Episodes
    • Episodes where we talk about specific characters from a specific series.
    • The plan is to start with TNG as that is the most relevant with Picard launching, then going back to TOS and eventually making our way to Discovery.
  • This would allow us to talk about our favourite characters more in depth and dive deeper into them, as well as also bring each episode down to more manageable time.
  • Overall Show Review Episodes
    • These would come at the end of each “season”
  • Ship Review Review Episodes
    • Will probably start with the hero ships and then move to other ships

Friday Episodes Planned for Recording

  1. Picard Pre-Launch talk
  2. What did we learn from the Picard Trailers
  3. Jean Luc Picard
  4.  Data
  5. 7 of 9
  6. Hugh (the Borg)
  7. Will and Deanna Riker
  8. Romulan status – Borg Status
  9. New Picard Characters
    • Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard: A retired Starfleet admiral. Stewart returns to the role after last portraying the character in the 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis. He felt that at that time his role in the franchise “had run its natural course”, but in the years since he was humbled by stories of the impact the character had on the lives of fans and so was now happy “to research and experience what comforting and reforming light he might shine on these often very dark times”.
    • Isa Briones as Dahj: A young woman who comes to Picard for help
    • Alison Pill as Agnes Jurati: A doctor who shares a common goal with Picard
    • Santiago Cabrera as Cristobal “Chris” Rios: The pilot of Picard’s ship, a skilled thief and a former Starfleet officer
    • Michelle Hurd as Raffi Musiker: A former Starfleet intelligence officer struggling with substance abuse; Rios’ partner
    • Harry Treadaway as Narek: A Romulan agent who joins Picard’s crew in investigating what his people are doing to former Borg drones
    • Evan Evagora as Elnor: A Romulan refugee who is an expert in hand-to-hand combat and is fiercely loyal to Picard

EPISODE(s) DETAILS

(Thursday and Friday recordings – hosts / day being determined)

  1. Picard Pre-Launch talk (Alvin, )
    • What are we hoping to get from Star Trek Picard?
    • How do we feel about them saying it’s going to be different from TNG
    • Why Patrick Stewart agreed to come back
      • Parallels between Professor-X/Logan with Picard
    • Any worries?
      • The plotting
        • Trek fans have been wanting a return to the more classic form of Trek story telling
        • As good as Discovery can be, there are always way too many holes that are left, mainly because they’re always looking to get from point A-B-C without much thought put into how that should be executed.
        • They’ve promised a much more cerebral Trek
    • What are we most excited about?
  2. What did we learn from the Picard Trailers (focus on the trailers themselves, Picard himself will be covered in next ep)
    •  Picard Teaser Trailer
      • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7YQoOmKQz4
        • First shots of Picard’s grape fields
        • Shots of Chateau Picard’s wine
          • Family estate?
          • Family business
        • Retired from Star Fleet
        • VO from unidentified woman talking about…
          • Picard leaving Star Fleet, a rescue armada
        • Final Shot on Picard
    • Picard Comic-Con Trailer
      • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByEcldq8V3I
      • First real look at the show on display
      • Better look at Picard in retired life on his vineyard
      • We learn it’s been 2 decades since Data died
        • Data died in 2379 as depicted in Star Trek Nemesis
        • This puts Picard most likely towards the end of 2399
        • Kind of cool that we’re looking to be towards the end of the 24th Century
      • There was a shot of Picard and Alison Pill as Agnes Jurati looking at a Soong body
        • Perhaps B4 or Lore
      • Picard states that he never truely felt like home in the vineyard
      • He looks up at the stars, we dissolve to Isa Briones as Dahj who comes to Picard for help.
        • She feels safe with Picard
        • It looks as if Starfleet doesn’t want or is unable to help Picard and this woman
      • We see Dahj in what looked like a Romulan holding facility.
        • It’s Borg related as we see a number of Borg references
        • There’s a sign that says there have been…
          • 16 years (5, 843 days) since the last assimilation
      • We see various shots of Picard’s new crew
      • There’s some hinting that Dahj is someone special.
        • Maybe a Romulan experiment?
        • Picard’s daughter
        • Nothing’s been confirmed but speculation is all over the place.
      • We see a shot of a Borg Cube
      • We see 7 of 9 return
      • The after title shot reveals Data
    • Trailer 3
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJaiUlqDCP4
      •  Different version of the 2nd trailer.
        • Picard is hiding from his past, something big happened,
          • The vineyard is a retreat for him
      • Starfleet tells him…
        • “This is not your house anymore Jean-Luc”
      • We see
      • We get more shots of Seven of Nine,
      • We see Hugh the borg…
        • Jonathan Del Arco as Hugh: A former Borg drone who appeared in the Next Generation episodes “I, Borg” and “Descent, Part II”
      • The end of the trailer gives us shots of Riker and Troi, who have also clearly retired and have kids
    •  Production wise, it looks really good
      • Same level of polish we’ve seen from Discovery and Trek movies
      • Alvin hopes that the plotting will be much better
    •  What are our impressions on the trailer overall
      •  Do they make us excited?
      •   
  3. Jean Luc Picard: After Nemesis 
    • Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard: A retired Starfleet admiral. Stewart returns to the role after last portraying the character in the 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis. He felt that at that time his role in the franchise “had run its natural course”, but in the years since he was humbled by stories of the impact the character had on the lives of fans and so was now happy “to research and experience what comforting and reforming light he might shine on these often very dark times”.
    • The last we saw he was still Captaining the Enterprise
    • Data had died but B4 was alive.
    • What do we think happened that made him leave Starfleet?
    • What do we think this rescue armada was?
    • Picard states that he never truely felt like home in the vineyard
      • Makes sense as he previously left this life to be in Starfleet
      • Had previously left this business to his brother and nephew who unfortunately perished in a fire about 25 or so years prior to Picard.
      • That’s another reason he’s never married or started a family.
    • He looks up at the stars, we dissolve to Isa Briones as Dahj who comes to Picard for help.
      • She feels safe with Picard
      • It looks as if Starfleet doesn’t want or is unable to help Picard and this woman
    • It sounds like he had gotten into a boring routine and Dhaj has maybe not given him the choice in terms of Picard becoming her advocate.
      • It’s possible he goes to Starfleet to get help, and since they wont, HE WILL “make it so” she can be protected, helped.
    • Picard has a history with the Borg.
      • This has been an advantage and disadvantage
      • Should be interesting to see if becomes an advocate for the de-assimilated.
    • What kind of journey do we think they will take us on with Picard?
  2. Data Haunts Picard
    •  Why do we think Data haunts Picard?
    •  We see Picard playing cards with Data
      • Data’s dead.
      • Either a hologram or a dream – probably a dream
    • We see data in another trailer.
      • He’s painting
      • They’re wearing their TNG uniforms
      • Much more apparent that it’s a dream
    • The Soong body we see must be either B4 or Lore
      • Starfleet or another division within the Federation must still be doing experiments to replicate Data
    • Do we think we’ll get to see Data in Picard as anything more than a dream or figment of Picard’s guilt?
    • Why do we think they’re putting so much emphasis on Data in the trailers?
    • Do we think Data’s Borg connection will play a part?
      • In Star Trek: First Contact, Data was somewhat assimilated by the Borg but not really.
        • It’s likely he was just playing along until he could get close to the warp plasma coolant tanks.
    • Are we happy about Data being in Picard?
  3. 7 of 9 (Mel, Alvin)
    •  Seven of Nine is BACK!
      • It looks like she’ll have a larger roll in Picard then say, Data, Riker or Troi.
    • Last we saw 7 was on Voyager
      • She was in the midst of exploring her humanity
      • She and Janeway had grown close
      • She and the Doctor were good friends
      • What happened to her and Icheb?
      • There was a writers forced romance between her and Chacotay
        •  Alvin will be okay if that’s written off
    • Before the end of Voyager
      • Seven was still very robot like
      • Still learning
      • Very awkward
    • Picard Trailer
      • Very casual
      • Very confident
      • Seems to have “adapted” well to a way more human demeanour
    • We’ve seen some shots of Seven in the trailer holding weapons
      • It looks like she’s on some kind of mission or crusade of her own.
      • It most likely involves rescuing or helping Borg
    • Do we think that she’s leading a resistance or rescue movement?
    • Do we think they will make a parallel between the de-assimilated Borg and perhaps refugees?
    • What kind of connection do we think she has to Dhaj?
    • What do we want to see from Seven of Nine in Picard?
  4. Hugh (the Borg) (Syd,) – Thurs
    • Last time we saw Hugh
    • Jonathan Del Arco as Hugh: A former Borg drone who appeared in the Next Generation episodes
      • “I, Borg” and “Descent, Part II”
      •  Three of Five
      • Crusher convinced the rest of the crew to save this injured but alive Borg Drone
      • Both Picard and Guinan did not want the drone on the ship
      • As time went on 3 of 5 learned about humanity, individuality and developed friendship’s specifically with Geordi.
      • In I Borg he was a drone who was severed from the collective
        • There was a plan devised to use Hugh to introduce a virus into the collective.
      • The big debate in the episode was whether or not it was right to use 3 0f 5, who was named Hugh, in the episode, as a weapon against the Borg.
        • There’s a very specific scene where Hugh is interrogated by Picard, who acts like Locutus and when Hugh expresses that he doesn’t want his friends to be assimilated, Picard realizes that this plan to use him was wrong.
        • It wasn’t used but instead Hugh introduced elements of individuality
          • This disrupted the Borg and created a segment of drones that became an independent group
        • This collective (as seen in TNG: Decent) stumbled upon Lore (Data’s brother) who took control and lead this mini-borg collective/rebels
          • The TNG crew helped Hugh overthrow Lore.
    • We see shots of Hugh in much more human makeup.
      • Do we think Hugh is working with Seven?
    • What kind of connection do we think he has to Dhaj?
    • What would we like to see from Hugh?
      •  It looks like he’ll have a larger role
  5. Will and Deanna Riker 
    • Got married in Star Trek Nemesis
      • Riker became Captain (finally)
      • Troi transferred to the Titan with Will
    • In the trailer we hear one of Riker’s kids call out to him
      • He’s working in the kitchen
    • We see Deanna hug Picard
    • It looks and sounds like Picard is seeking advice from Riker
      • Maybe some counseling from Deanna?
    • Do we think this will be a really small part, maybe even just an episode if only just two or so episode?
      • Will they just be quick cameos?
      • Will they be slightly larger roles but just for a couple or just one episode?
  6. Romulan status / Borg Status (Syd,) – Thurs
    •   At the End of Nemesis:
      • At the end of Star Trek: Nemesis the Romulan Star Empire had gone through another regime change in the form of Shinzon.
        • Skipping the cloning Picard bits, there seemed to be hope of peace between the Federation and Romulan Star Empire.
    • With Star Trek 2009 we find out that Spock had been trying to spot the star that Romulas orbits from going supernova.
      • He failed and ended up in the JJverse
    • Meanwhile, in the Prime Universe Romulas have been destroyed, meaning that there is/was a large number of Romulan refugees.
    • Because of the events of Nemesis, how involved do we think Picard was with Romulas?
    • Do we think the “unauthorized rescue mission” has something to do with the destruction of Romulas?
      • Maybe a subsequent mission that was the result of the Supernova?
    • We’ve seen a lot of Romulans in some of the trailers, some of which seem to want to help Picard, others who are warning him, some who are maybe arresting him?
    • What do we think the Romulans were doing with Borg technology?
    • The last time we saw the Borg they had been crippled by he exploits of Voyager.
      • There has been a lot of Borg instances shown in the trailers but nothing that indicates the Borg as a main villain are still around.
      • We’ve seen deactivated drones, former drones, dead drones, a Borg cube that looks like it’s been captured BUT…
        • …No Borg as we’ve seen in the traditional sense.
    • Where do we think the Borg are in Picard?
  7. New Picard Characters
    • Isa Briones as Dahj: A young woman who comes to Picard for help
      •  Has a Borg Connection
    • Alison Pill as Agnes Jurati: A doctor who shares a common goal with Picard
      • Seems to have a connection to Data, and Androids
    • Santiago Cabrera as Cristobal “Chris” Rios: The pilot of Picard’s ship, a skilled thief and a former Starfleet officer
      • The “Captain” of whatever starship Picard is on.
    • Michelle Hurd as Raffi Musiker: A former Starfleet intelligence officer struggling with substance abuse; Rios’ partner
      • Woman in the trailer who asks Picard if wants to undertake “another unauthorized rescue mission”?
    • Harry Treadaway as Narek: A Romulan agent who joins Picard’s crew in investigating what his people are doing to former Borg drones
      • Seems suspicious.
    • Evan Evagora as Elnor: A Romulan refugee who is an expert in hand-to-hand combat and is fiercely loyal to Picard
      • Looks like the person with the sword
      • Possibly involved with the Unification Movement started by Spock?

TREKILY Preview:

Have a look at the set below as well as the two versions of the opening credits. There is a long version for special episodes and a short version which is the regular version.