You can now watch the Star Trek: Picard premiere for free

The first episode of Star Trek: Picard is beaming up (for free) on YouTube.

CBS All Access has made the latest Star Trek iteration’s premiere episode available on the digital streaming platform, giving fans complimentary access to 79-year-old series actor Patrick Stewart’s return as the titular (now retired) Starfleet admiral.

The episode will stream on YouTube for a limited time only, with subsequent episodes premiering Thursdays on the CBS All Access subscription network.

Stewart recently told EW he wasn’t initially game for reprising the role of Picard, who, in the new project, enjoys his retirement on a quiet vineyard at the end of the 24th Century, until a mysterious young woman, Dahj (Isa Briones) pulls him into a new quest.

“I’m very proud of the work we did on Next Generation — most of our work — but I felt I had said and done everything I could about Jean-Luc Picard and didn’t see any point,” he said, while Kurtzman added: “That’s when he understood we were dedicated to exploring a new chapter in a way that hadn’t been done before.”

Source: Entertainment Weekly

quote:

Originally posted by Kennywood:
The episode will stream on YouTube for a limited time only, with subsequent episodes premiering Thursdays on the CBS All Access subscription network.

So of course I know that this is designed to get more subscribers for CBS All Access, streaming is the future, on all your devices, blah, blah, blah.

However, am I the only one who thinks that a new Star Trek with Picard would have brought in a larger audience and more revenue if it had been launched as a new show on CBS? Doesn't CBS All Access just limit the exposure for a show that might have had widespread popularity? Or do you think that the interest in any Star Trek series is now limited to the viewers of one streaming channel and maybe those fans faithful enough to follow it there?

The advertising revenue just isn't enough to cover the cost of making these shows for broadcast, so they have to do them in association with subscription channels.

Anyway, I don't think a Star Trek series would do well on Broadcast TV. E4 have recently started broadcasting season 1 of Discovery in the UK, and after several episodes they are moving it to a late night slot, indicative that it's ratings have tanked.

quote:

Originally posted by WOMBLE:
E4 have recently started broadcasting season 1 of Discovery in the UK, and after several episodes they are moving it to a late night slot, indicative that it's ratings have tanked.

I think the restrictions that the makers/Netflix/both have put on repeat rights may have had a lot to do with this. There is no catch-up facility for Discovery. There's also been very little advertising. I've already got the first two seasons on Blu-Ray. Maybe they should start thinking about showing it quicker than over a year old.

Thanks for the tip. I watched it there and enjoyed it but I'm afraid Womble is right: there just isn't the passionate outcry for more "Star Trek" like there used to be. I didn't watch the original show until the mid-70's when it was on a local cable channel on weekday afternoons after school. I might have seen the animated series first, in fact. There was an outcry then with thousands of people writing letters (not emails) to Hollywood for a continuation of the series. It was the time of early Star Trek/sci-fi conventions and fan fiction. There was disappointment with the first movie in 1979 and then joy with the second one. Someone finally recaptured the essence of the show.

Fans wanted more as the original crew got older across the 80's, and in 1987, we got "The Next Generation," which the old fans liked as it picked up fans of its own.

Jump to the 2000's with many of those fans that watched the original in the late 60's reaching their 60's and the younger fans in their late 30's and 40's so the franchise finds itself with an aging following with far fewer teenage and twenty-something fans than it had before. There was still enough interest to launch a new movie series ten years ago, and I thought it was good, but then the producers decided to redo "The Wrath of Khan" with the second one. That was an error in strategy and execution. They lost a lot of fans with that one - the fans that still had the fire. The last movie was alright. It had a good idea to honor the past in a couple of ways, but the whole thing still seemed to be missing something.

Now, I watched the first "Discovery" but didn't feel like paying extra to watch more of them. I liked the first "Picard" more than that one but still don't feel like paying extra to watch other episodes of that either. I might get the Blu-ray when it's released.

I think we need a Star Trek movie written, decorated, and directed by people that know what old Star Trek smells like. It could have a story about knowing when to fight and when not to fight but still have at least one cool space battle. I don't know if Tarantino is one of those people but he does understand about capturing a time with an eye and an ear for detail.

Meanwhile, in another universe, Jon Favreau did a great job with "The Mandalorian." He gets it. That's a great "Star Wars" show. I want to buy those cards when it's a regular set from a hobby box. I'm not into buying a couple of cards every week at crazy prices per card.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by Kennywood:
You can now watch the Star Trek: Picard premiere for free

The first episode of Star Trek: Picard is beaming up (for free) on YouTube.

CBS All Access has made the latest Star Trek iteration’s premiere episode available on the digital streaming platform, giving fans complimentary access to 79-year-old series actor Patrick Stewart’s return as the titular (now retired) Starfleet admiral.

The episode will stream on YouTube for a limited time only, with subsequent episodes premiering Thursdays on the CBS All Access subscription network.

Stewart recently told EW he wasn’t initially game for reprising the role of Picard, who, in the new project, enjoys his retirement on a quiet vineyard at the end of the 24th Century, until a mysterious young woman, Dahj (Isa Briones) pulls him into a new quest.

“I’m very proud of the work we did on Next Generation — most of our work — but I felt I had said and done everything I could about Jean-Luc Picard and didn’t see any point,” he said, while Kurtzman added: “That’s when he understood we were dedicated to exploring a new chapter in a way that hadn’t been done before.”

Source: Entertainment Weekly

Tastes differ.
I thought Star Trek Into Darkness (the Khan remake), was fantastic, and Star Trek Beyond a big dud.

I've seen every Star Trek franchise movie at a theater.

That did not stop me from buying both on Blu-Ray and enjoying them though.

Next year CBS All Access becomes Paramount Plus, with at least 5 new original series.

I don't know what that means for Star Trek, probably nothing. Disney Plus envy, most likely.

Just watched the series, I enjoyed it