StillPaisleyCat

joined 2 years ago
[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 5 points 2 months ago (4 children)

At a certain point, I realized that from another perspective, the big divide seems to be between those who see continuous distributions as just an abstraction of a world that is inherently finite vs those who see finite steps as the approximation of an inherently continuous and infinitely divisible reality.

Since I’m someone who sees math as a way to tell internally-consistent stories that may or may not represent reality, I tend to have a certain exasperation with what seems to be the need of most engineers to anchor everything in Euclidean topography.

But it’s my spouse who had to help our kids with high school math. A parent who thinks non Euclidean geometry is fun is not helpful at that point.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Given Ellison was a producer on Into Darkness, and has recurrently cited Star Trek in the listings of legacy properties in documents related to the merger, I expect that the CEO will micromanage the franchise for good or ill.

Beyond the fact that I don’t see Cheeks or Goldberg staying more than 18 months, based on typical merger transitions, I can’t see Ellison leaving Star Trek in his management.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 2 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I’m wondering about the information that one of Co-CEOs is staying on in another role. Can you provide a source?

This Variety article says:

Tom Ryan, president and CEO of Paramount Streaming, and Mike Ireland, president of Paramount Motion Picture group, also stepped down this week.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Fair enough. I mentioned Marcelle as they have truly been the hypoallergenic North American brand for a half century. One used to only see their line at compounding pharmacies.

Single ingredient lines are very difficult, or even ones that just exclude the top allergens. There have been some smaller Canadian lines, but they seem to come and go - or like Ilia, a originally Canadian brand manufactured in the EU, they go big and move their head office to the US.

This is a weird appropriation.

Sesame Street was WGBH Boston - also a gritty city. Part of downtown was literally called the Combat Zone.

The stone facades and steps are very old Boston.

The video of kids playing in the old Copley Square fountain area was unmistakable when I first visited there decades later.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 3 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Have you tried any Marcelle products?

My partner and I had a blast watching it.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I wanted both.

But with a truncated 5th season and the very long lead time required for animation, I can see why the animated version ended up being dropped.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

This local article and interview with the candidate who defeated Poilievre includes a photo of Poilievre’s former constituency office in his Carleton riding.

One has to wonder about the lack of signage on the actual office and apparent challenges in accessibility.

Le Droit article

Treklit - both comics and books gets short-shrift in promotion.

No idea why, but it’s definitely a longstanding and worsening trend.

We’ll have to see whether David Ellison reorients the scheduling strategically. It’s hard to imagine he will not.

5 years ago, as the transition was happening after the remerger, the demographic statistics I saw showed that CBSAA/P+ had the best range of demographics. And it had the best youth/teen/kids audience after Disney+.

Unlike, NBC Universal’s problem with Peacock and Discovery+, which had two very different demographics with little interest the content the other offered, Paramount+ launched with a broad and diverse base.

But the programming and production choices of the past five years have brutally squandered that. It seems that the millennial, middle age Bro, and older male audience has been the target — live sports, Taylor Sheridan everything etc.

It already feels as though P+ has been reprogrammed to make the current US administration happy, pushing a certain kind of American exceptionalism, but that’s not a successful global business strategy.

It’s really only the content coming in from CBS linear and Star Trek that’s kept the balance on the platform.

We keep hearing about content being produced in Paramount’s South American studios or in agreements with partners in Spain and France, but none of that richness in offerings are making it to the North American platform. Netflix remains dominant in offering high quality content from outside Hollywood.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I agree. The more we see, the more enthusiastic I am.

The concept of an Academy show was in development hell for so long - basically, since the hiatus after Discovery’s first season.

And we know that it was originally kicked around before TNG went into production.

So, this seems to have been a hard one to make work. The cost to produce a high quality VFX-rich show that appeals to a teen and young adult demographic, requires that the show must also be rich enough elements to draw the wider Trek base.

I’m hopeful that, as with Prodigy, Starfleet Academy may be one of the rare shows that satisfies a mass demographic despite the streaming era.

The risk is that, like Prodigy, Paramount may not promote it broadly enough.

However, with A-listers heading the cast, one can hope that it will get a lot of promotion beyond the genre media.

 

I had been curious to see what the Trekyards guys’ first-look analysis would be based on the preview clip shared at STLV. Thought others might be too.

As usual, I find they can be overly rigid on some points, but can agree that for a new, large science vessel that would carry families, Voyager-A seems to be lacking windows.

 

Paramount Global is often characterized as late to the party and at best an underdog.

It’s helpful perspective to compare then to how mammoth Disney is managing through its transitions.

By all accounts it’s continuing to flail, and Bob Iger’s tone-deaf mid-July public statements seem to be pouring accelerant on a reported dumpster fire of internal morale.

The adage regarding bad strategy executed by “generals fighting the last war” comes to mind. Bob Iger’s attempt to turnaround Disney is seeming a lot like Wellington’s infamous disasterous Crimean War strategy in the mid 19th century.

Many of Disney’s problems come with the territory of running a sprawling media conglomerate in 2023: The once-lucrative tent pole of linear TV is rapidly crumbling, while its theoretical replacement, streaming, is burning through cash. Interest rates are taking their toll. Audiences are growing bored with the seemingly unending number of superheroes, spinoffs and sequels from the vaunted studio…

Iger was already getting called out for attending the Sun Valley conference, a confab known as the “summer camp for billionaires,” after laying off some 7,000 people across the company to save money. But instead of laying low, Iger went on TV and, against the backdrop of idyllic Idaho mountains under a pink sky, absolutely wrecked his comms team’s week.

In the interview, Iger told journalist David Faber that Disney’s non-ESPN linear assets, which include ABC, the Disney Channel, FX and National Geographic, “may not be core,” and that the traditional TV business model was “broken.”

 

I found this Hollywood Reporter scan of investor reactions well done.

It addresses many of the points of speculation swirling around the Star Trek franchise. (It also gives me pause, as there’s a strong implication that Paramount and other AMTPT members are using the WGA and SGA-AFTRA strikes to cooldown excesses in competitive streaming production at the expense of the creators and talent.)

It covers Paramount Global’s quarterly earnings report, CEO Baklish’s statements around direct to consumer (DTC, i.e. streamers and Pluto) strategy, and the sale of Simon and Schuster.

TLDR: Don’t put credence in firesale narratives that would see the Star Trek IP sold off to another streamer / content producer - but expect tighter constraints and more careful playing of market niches/segments in greenlighting and scheduling new franchise content.

Here are some key points/excerpts…

  1. Paramount Global got most of the bad news out to investors last quarter, taking the price punishment in one go. Between the strike and the sale of Simon and Schuster (as well as the debt restructuring announced last quarter) is now in a better cash position, able to lower its relatively high leverage (debt ratio). Its streamers are also expected to be closer to profitable.

… the second quarter saw the conglomerate beat Wall Street estimates and “speak to ‘significant growth’ in earnings for ’24,” the Wells Fargo expert noted. “Paramount is also expecting accelerating direct-to-consumer (DTC) ad revenue in the third quarter, better second-half free cash flow due to the strikes and should see more than 20 percent DTC global average revenue per user (ARPU) growth in ’24.”

  1. Don’t expect the Redstone family to break up Paramount Global to achieve a sale.

Steven Cahall, the Wells Fargo analyst also shared his take on what he described as some investors’ “M&A dream.” Mentioning a value of around $25 billion on Paramount’s studio and content assets, Cahall shared: “We can think of five well-heeled buyers for content/studios in isolation, but only one to two (and maybe zero) if networks/DTC are part of a deal.” While “M&A works with a break-up,” he believes that Shari Redstone-controlled owner National Amusements wouldn’t go for that option, writing: “Unfortunately, we think NAI would only consider a deal for the whole.”

  1. Paramount Global’s doing a reasonable job of managing the hand it was dealt (in terms of selling off assets) and is moderating its streaming strategy.

MoffettNathanson analysts Robert Fishman and Michael Nathanson, “Although we remain skeptical, Paramount believes DTC can ultimately turn into a meaningful profit driver,” they noted. “Management seemed to concede that it had narrowed the scope of its DTC ambitions, saying it is rejiggering its content strategy to focus on the demographics that have already flocked to the platform with an eye towards increasing engagement and thus reducing churn.”

  1. Paramount is doing better in curbing the free fall of linear television

Beyond Wall Street, Third Bridge analyst Jamie Lumley also commented on Paramount’s latest financial and operating update. “In an environment where traditional TV is under increasing pressure, Paramount brought some stability to its TV Media segment with revenue dropping just 2 percent,” he noted. “However, our experts caution that what’s important to see is the fall season given the degree of impact that the writers and actors strike will bring to Paramount’s lineup.”

 

David Mack, a tie-in Treklit author well known for tense drama, sometimes darker but strong portrayals of legacy characters, will be bringing us the tale of Seven’s journey to the Fenris Rangers. Mack’s consistently been nominated for the award for best genre fiction tie-in novels, and has recently won. He seems to be exactly the right author to take on this one.

From his @davidmack@wandering.shop presence on Mastodon:

Rejected by Starfleet Denied by the Federation SEVEN IS A WOMAN WITH NO HOME

Two years after Voyager returns from the Delta Quadrant, ex-Borg Seven of Nine embarks on a long-overdue journey of self-discovery — one that leads her to join the Fenris Rangers … but this choice might herald the end of her friendship with Kathryn Janeway.

COMING FEBRUARY 27, 2024 Available Now for Pre-Order in Hardcover, eBook, and Audiobook

Mack’s books are on my autobuy list so I preordered when the book was first announced. I can recommend.

It’s Mack’s first hardcover tie-in Trek novel, but that seems to be a thing now for all new books tied to the ongoing streaming series. Simon and Schuster know who their best, established tie-in authors are and they are matching them well with books for the new shows. There hasn’t been a lemon in the bunch.

 

$1.62 billion is less than Paramount Global was seeking for Simon & Schuster, but a $200 million cancellation payout on the last court-blocked deal, and several years of profitability from the publishing arm, makes for a bit of a wash over 4 years of attempted divestment.

As a Treklit fan, I’m sad to see the franchise publisher going separate ways, but Paramount never seemed inclined to make anything of the possible synergies with its publisher. And Paramount will always own all the rights for its licenced tie-in fiction whatever the relationship.

Hopefully, this influx of cash will help Paramount reduce its overall debt without making it a target for a takeover funded with its own money.

 

The article is making a lot of a brief response by Waltke to a question following up on a mysterious pre-STLV tweet on the platform formerly known as Twitter.

That said, it strongly suggests that the Lamarr-class Voyager-A and the Doctor won’t be the only ties to other Star Trek series.

SUMMARY

Prodigy season 2 of Star Trek will connect with every other show in the franchise, including a possible tie-in with Starfleet Academy.

The upcoming season promises to be even bigger than season 1, with elements from all previous shows and interesting storylines.

The return of beloved characters, such as The Doctor and the USS Voyager-A, deepens the connection to Star Trek: Voyager and expands the sequel potential for the entire Star Trek universe. #SaveStarTrekProdigy.

On Mastodon @GoodAaron@GoodAaron@mastodon.social has tooted that Prodigy season two has ‘New ships. Familiar faces. Starfleet legends…’

It seems the pitch for a ‘new home’ for Prodigy rolls on.

What I still can’t figure is why all those ‘familiar faces’ weren’t sufficient to make Prodigy a fit with Paramount’s 3 F ‘Franchises, Familiar Faces & Fandoms’ streaming strategy.

Oh to be a fly on the walls of Paramount.

 

Giving Christina Chong’s original pop Britpop music a bit more of a boost here.

This new single and video appears to be honouring her identity as a biracial child, including several clips from family home videos of her childhood.

For a more intense piece, with dancers, try Two Flames released last month. She directed that official video herself.

 

I often consider Screenrant clickbait, but kudos to Mark Donaldson for getting one of the first analyses of the beauty shots and the Doctor’s description from the Prodigy 2 x 01 sneak peak made available at STLV.

SUMMARY

The USS Voyager-A, unveiled in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, has undergone noticeable upgrades including increased staffing levels, advanced technology, and a larger shuttle bay.

The Voyager-A is a Lamarr-class science vessel, honoring real-world female scientist Hedy Lamarr, in line with the legacy of Janeway as a female leader and scientist.

While the Voyager-B and Voyager-J also feature upgrades and unique technologies, the Voyager-A stands out with its larger size and alternative warp drive.

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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website to c/quarks@startrek.website
 

cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/715946

cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/715805

Thanks again to all who joined in the creative fun on Canvas. It’s been great getting to cooperate with you in this midsummer enthusiasm.

Our efforts have stood up fairly well, despite a touch of final hours encroachment by an enthusiastically growing flag of Ireland and what seems to be an extension of the Trans flag. I guess a wordmark in violet was too great a temptation for them to resist interacting with.

Edited: TIL the colours of the Trans flag. My bad for not knowing them already

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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website to c/canvas@toast.ooo
 

cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/715805

Thanks again to all who joined in the creative fun on Canvas. It’s been great getting to cooperate with you in this midsummer enthusiasm.

Our efforts have stood up fairly well, despite a touch of final hours encroachment by an enthusiastically growing flag of Ireland and what seems to be an extension of the Trans flag. I guess a wordmark in violet was too great a temptation for them to resist interacting with.

Edited: TIL the colours of the Trans flag. My bad for not knowing them already

143
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website to c/startrek@startrek.website
 

Thanks again to all who joined in the creative fun on Canvas. It’s been great getting to cooperate with you in this midsummer enthusiasm.

Our efforts have stood up fairly well, despite a touch of final hours encroachment by an enthusiastically growing flag of Ireland and what seems to be an extension of the Trans flag. I guess a wordmark in violet was too great a temptation for them to resist interacting with.

Edited: TIL the colours of the Trans flag. My bad for not knowing them already.

 

Didn’t see this coming. Prodigy EPs the Brothers Hageman have dropped a scene from season two, episode one.

And it’s on the official StarTrek.com site.

My spouse is muttering ‘makes no sense at all…’

I’m enjoying just having gorgeous new Prodigy animation to see. And those of you who love a great flyby of a new ship - get ready!

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