I’m taking this as a positive overall for now.

Beyond the merger, the pressure from the current US administration on the entertainment sector has and will continue to create a great deal of uncertainty. George Cheeks has sufficient time in with the television IP for Star Trek that he’s in a position to be protective while the movie franchise takes wild risks in order to achieve David Ellison’s moonshot level commitment to a high volume of cinematic releases.

On the other hand, no one in Ellison’s circle seems to have a clue that the world is moving rapidly away from US originated content - scripted or unscripted. Asia now produces more and audiences globally are becoming more and more interested in watching shows from across Asia.

Paramount invested heavily in a major South American television studio system but hasn’t brought new Spanish and Portuguese content to North America. It’s locked in a model where it sees non-English content as something just for regional markets rather than something to build a global streamer.

Ooh, the states have gone for a number of conditions that will crystallize into requirements for divestments if Paramount fails to meet its expansive promises.

…Which the states likely believe will happen.

It’s a smart way for both sides to kick the problem downstream a bit until there’s a new administration.

It’s also a way for David Ellison to lock himself legally into doing things he personally wants to do (massive amounts of scripted production) while holding off his father and other investors.

It may be that one won’t be reached at all.

The states may be dragging this out until after the November midterms to see if they may have more leverage in DC later.

This sounds like more of a wishful thinking deal-in-principle.

Ellison is promising to make a vast number of cinematic releases (30 per year) but the states are looking for concrete structural requirements, such as to sell off holdings where there would be excessive concentration.

Here is The Hollywood Reporter’s take.

Ellison, for his part, promised to release a minimum of 30 films per year theatrically, though many in the industry remain skeptical about how long the company can sustain that level of production.

Bonta had maintained he’ll only accept structural remedies, which typically involve companies selling off parts of the combined business. It’s believed a sticking point for the states in any settlement involved Paramount operating the two studios as independent businesses and selling off parts of its cable business. For Ellison, parting ways with CNN was a no-go.

Still, the specifics of a deal are still TBA, including any potential divestitures.

I’m feeling pretty blue about the future if the franchise just now.

The hype around a cinematic feature just feels like recurring sucker-punch. I will only buy in once there’s both a trailer and a release date.

And there’s the complete lack of desire to give Paramount any money.

I thought the 50th anniversary was under promoted but this is just dire — other than a couple of official coffee table books and the Le Creuset pieces.

They won’t remain in the packing in our home, but they may help motivate some uptake of cooking skills among the not quite adults.

I balked at Le Creuset for decades due to the price.

Once we got our first Dutch oven, there was no going back. It’s so much less hassle cooking to have pots and braisers that work well. The price is worth it, especially if you shop the online sales and get 30 or 40% off. However, these are full price plus a premium over regular equivalents.

That said, it took my partner less than 2 hours to ask which items we should be ordering…

This is one time the merch will be worth it.

I find it interesting how much attention franchise fans give to crowd-sourced ratings on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes when we know that they are brigaded. Why give any credence to manipulated data?

As I have been watching more content from China recently, I have learned that the manipulation of social media and streaming audience data, especially ratings, is a very high profile public discussion outside North America.

In fact, there have been repeated attempts to develop and patent algorithms in China to detect manipulated ratings and streaming audience data and correct for them. None have successfully proved they can clean up brigading and manipulation to the satisfaction of national authorities.

I think that I can almost enjoy how much people are getting bent out of shape by this on other social media. (I confess to scanning a few of the comments under that TrekMovie article.)

Dropping in belatedly to say that my partner and I felt this was an improvement over the season premiere, and we felt it got things back on track.

Dropping back to add that Youku is making Mystic Nine available through free ad-supported video on demand through its app or through its YouTube channel. One episode is being released per day.

As of today, 13 episodes are posted in Youku’s English subtitle playlist and 12 on the English dub playlist on YouTube.

The continuance of Paramount+ as a standalone streamer is entirely dependent on the delay of the merger. I would take anything the current management says with a certain amount of skepticism as they are having to carry on while the antitrust challenge is ongoing.

Ellison has been transparent that he is looking to consolidate the WB and Paramount streamers or at minimum restructure and retarget their content and audiences. He’s looking for synergies and in his justifications to investors regarding the merger, he’s specifically cited the intention for Paramount and WB to use Skydance’s animation studios.

I actually wonder in hindsight to what degree Paramount and Nickelodeon proactively shut down renewals with animation houses in anticipation of a deal with Skydance.

It’s interesting that they believe that they have leverage — and that it just might be the case.

Ellison suffered a setback that should not be underestimated when Taylor Sheridan unequivocally rebuffed Paramount’s offer to renew his first look contract. He has been Paramount+’s biggest content producer but flatly rejected a renewal, despite extensive personal courting by David Ellison and one of his senior people brought over from Skydance.

So, it’s not obvious that the kind of creatives that Ellison wants to work with will actually be willing to sign on with him. The Hagemans are significant creators in animation and Skydance’s animation studio is a major part of its business. They really are in a position to insist that on Prodigy renewal as part of any deal.

The choices in this list are an odd mix of ones that almost everyone acknowledges as top ranked and others that are likely not.

A Mathematically Perfect Redemption as the only standalone Lower Decks episode to make the cut?

No TAS classics such as Yesteryear, The Slaver Weapon or the Counterclockwise Incident?

TNG Qpid but not Q Who?

Nothing at all from Prodigy — the best effort and most successful landing of a serialized season the franchise has achieved?

Thanks for the thought experiment OP.

My spouse and I found this season opener disappointing, if for different reasons.

My partner couldn’t get past the bad science. More, something made them feel like they were watching low budget mid 20th century scifi.

I found the performances/acting off across the board. Given the strength of the cast one has to wonder why they were overwrought and unconvincing. The pacing and rhythm of dialogue definitely was part of it. The direction has to be part of it but the episode director has done a lot of better episodes in the this era.

I’m usually pretty forgiving on science and engineering as long as the process feels right. Without the actors selling it, I just didn’t get into the show in a way that allowed for suspension of disbelief.

The cast is saying they feel this is their strongest season yet. Based on episode one, I am unconvinced.

This is good news.

It was well done and might be something Paramount is willing to do more of even if the television franchise is on ice.

Unfortunately, that Instagram post seems unavailable now.

In any event, I would be happy to see both James Frain back as Sarek and Mia Kirshner as Amanda Grayson.

I was one of those who really liked their performances as those characters.

Really unfortunate that trawl fishing damaged the wreck — but also incredible that the ship was still in use in the early 1960s.

Do you mean this 2025 Korean movie?

I haven’t seen that one but it sounds interesting. Thanks for the recommendation!

My sense is that North Americans just aren’t aware of the existence of high concept or well resourced productions coming out from Asia. China, Korea and Japan have large television and film production industries and the vfx specialists to make shows and films of similar or superior production quality. We’re just conditioned to think that’s Hollywood’s specialty.

The creative choices will be different and the narratives will reflect a difference in culture — and constraints of national censorship in the case of China — but there’s as wide a range of styles and types of stories.

Unfortunately, most of us only have access to the slice of Asian entertainment that Netflix choses to license. Disney+ partners with Chinese producers but then only offers the shows in SE Asia outside China rather than bringing them to Hulu. Amazon Prime was licensing Asian shows a few years ago but seems to have pulled back. Some shows are available to watch with ads on official sites on YouTube.

Asian streamers are available for subscription in North America but the majority of the content licensed at this point is romances and Idol dramas, with the occasional scifi show or thriller tossed in.

Definitely can appreciate that it’s fairly manic, and not for everyone. That’s why it has the summer movie vibe for me.

Also Dylan Wang He Di is often in roles where he’s a bit of an offbeat heroic character in dramas and films with a lot of action.

You might like Mobius better as scifi thriller or Reset if Netflix still offers it in your region.

But slower paced stuff like Interstellar is almost a different genre. Three Body Problem may be more your thing.