Tor.com content by

Ryan Britt

Wed Mar 24, 2021 12:00pm 21 comments 1 Favorite [+]

Credit: Paramount Pictures (Star Trek.com)

Everybody knows that Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan came out in the summer of 1982. But, what the alternate history Apple TV+ series For All Mankind presupposes is… maybe it came out in 1983?

In episode 5 of For All Mankind’s second season—“The Weight”—the writers of the show slipped in a hilarious Easter egg to the most famous Trek movie of them all. And, in doing so, confirmed that the alternate history of the show impacts the growth of popular science fiction as well as politics. The premise of For All Mankind might be fixated on an alternate development of NASA during the late ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, but the context takes place amid some pop culture that is different from our own.

Mild spoilers about For All Mankind seasons 1 and 2 ahead. Plus, a very old 1982 spoiler from The Wrath of Khan.

Star Trek

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Could — and Should — Feature a Young Uhura

Ryan Britt

Mon Jul 20, 2020 12:00pm 17 comments 3 Favorites [+]

Credit: CBS

By the time it airs, the upcoming series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will be the third series in the Trek franchise to act as a direct prequel to the classic 1960s show that boldly started it all. And Strange New Worlds will feature the return of Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn, and Ethan Peck as Captain Pike, Number One, and Mr. Spock, respectively, all reprising their roles from Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 and Short Treks. But who else will round-out this version of the crew of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701? New characters, for sure, but what about very familiar ones?

Among all the speculation and fan excitement about Strange New Worlds, there’s one fairly obvious character the series could and should bring back: Nyota Uhura. You might think putting Uhura on the Enterprise seven years before Kirk won’t work. But are you sure? Here’s how a new (not rebooted!) version of Uhura could totally appear in Strange New Worlds without ruffling any of Star Trek’s complicated canon.

behind the scenes

These 5 Books Will Give You Geeky Knowledge You Won’t Find Anywhere Else

Ryan Britt

Mon May 4, 2020 11:00am 8 comments 2 Favorites [+]

Credit: Universal

The only thing better than binge-watching your favorite SFF movies or TV series is reading a bunch of cool facts about them. Behind-the-scenes books about science fiction movies and TV shows are sometimes overlooked by fans, partially because so much nerdy information exists online. And yet, in the pages of great behind-the-scenes books, you’ll find things you really can’t find anywhere else. Even when you think you know something, there’s always another detail in a behind-the-scenes book that will be missing from Wikipedia, or, paradoxically, articles like this one.

Here are five behind-the-scenes books about SFF movies and TV that offer revelatory details about some great franchises. From Babylon 5 to Blade Runner, to one thing you almost certainly got wrong about the original Star Wars, let’s raid the bookshelf to make your next sci-fi binge even better.

Star Trek

Surprise! 5 Classic Star Trek Characters Who Could Easily Appear in Star Trek: Discovery Season 3

Ryan Britt

Tue Apr 14, 2020 9:30am 5 comments Favorite This

Credit: CBS

Warning! Spoilers ahead for the endings of Star Trek: Discovery season 2 and Star Trek: Picard season 1!

Because Star Trek: Discovery season 3 will take place 930 years after 2257, in the year 3187 and beyond, it doesn’t seem at all likely that we’ll see any familiar faces from Star Trek’s lengthy mythology.

Or will we? A show brazen enough to have already made Spock and Pike central (and very well-depicted) characters could definitely figure out how to feature a few more familiar faces, even centuries past their prime. There are very specific, and surprising, ways for a few characters to return without having to utter the phrases “temporal anomaly” or “space-time continuum” at all.

Here are five Trek characters from across the entire franchises who could crash the far-future party of Star Trek: Discovery Season 3.

Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard and The Witcher Highlight a Brave New Trend — Direct Contact With Fandom

Ryan Britt

Mon Apr 6, 2020 11:30am 1 Favorite [+]

Showrunner Michael Chabon remembers the exact moment when he knew he needed to talk directly to the viewers of Star Trek: Picard. At the end of a “gauntlet” of perfunctory red-carpet interviews with members of the press at the LA premiere of the series, Chabon describes “a sense of relief” in being greeted by what he describes as “probably 100 fans, a lot of them in cosplay. All I wanted to do at that moment was to go stand over there and talk to them and answer their questions and engage and be part of that.” And so, as Picard started airing, Chabon took to Instagram every week to answer fan questions about each episode.

This direct and overwhelming positive interaction with fans reveals the emergence of an encouraging trend. Some of the biggest science fiction and fantasy TV franchises are connecting directly with their fandoms, in a way that brings everyone down to Earth. From The Witcher to the in-production Wheel of Time TV series, to Chabon’s Instagram talkbacks about Picard, the line between fan and showrunner is getting warmly blurred.

Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard Finale Means Season 2 Could Be Loaded With Nostalgia

Ryan Britt

Fri Mar 27, 2020 1:30pm 9 comments 2 Favorites [+]

Screenshot Credit: CBS

As Jean-Luc Picard once said to Data: “Nicely done!” The finale of Star Trek: Picard has wrapped-up the show’s first season, and managed to finish off a few loose threads from Star Trek: Nemesis at the same time. (No, a Shinzon Tom Hardy cameo tragically did not appear.)

But, one feature of the Picard season 1 finale was a decided restraint against fan service or an outpouring of what we think of as conventional nostalgia. For the most part, the finale—and the series as a whole—focused on finishing what it set up, and little else. This means that when Picard season 2 happens, The Next Generation nostalgia could go into overdrive. Here’s why.

Spoilers ahead for Picard episodes 1-10.

Star Trek: Picard

Picard’s Squadron Could Be a Massive Next Generation Reunion. Let’s Discuss.

Ryan Britt

Tue Mar 17, 2020 12:00pm 21 comments Favorite This

Screenshot: CBS

Jean-Luc’s got a squad!

In episode 8 of Star Trek: Picard, “Broken Pieces,” Jean-Luc Picard reaches out to his buddy Admiral Clancy, and eventually, gets what he wanted way back in episode 2. But now, because of that very specific request, it seems like Picard may have slyly set-up several cameos to occur in either episode 9 or episode 10 of this season. Will the finale of Picard end with a massive Next Generation reunion? Here’s who could come back and why.

Spoilers for Star Trek: Picard episodes 1-8 ahead. Plus speculation for episodes 9 and 10.

Star Trek

Picard Kzinti Easter Egg Links Star Trek to the Works of Larry Niven

Ryan Britt

Fri Mar 13, 2020 1:30pm 34 comments 4 Favorites [+]

Credit: CBS

With one, small, off-the-cuff Easter egg, Picard has connected the Star Trek universe to the literary canon of Larry Niven.

With a single word from Riker in episode 7, “Nepenthe,” Picard referenced a 1973 episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series. And, in doing so, brought Larry Niven back into Trek canon, too. This may have slightly bigger implications than a deep-cut reference; in fact, the entire backstory of the Star Trek canon might have just been given a new spin, that is actually, very old.

Spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Picard episodes 1-8.

Star Trek: Picard

Think Star Trek: Picard Is Slow? Let’s Talk About The Next Generation

Ryan Britt

Wed Feb 12, 2020 10:30am 9 comments 4 Favorites [+]

When retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard says “Engage!” in Star Trek: Picard, longtime fans of The Next Generation all high-fived each other, or possibly, their own childhoods. But did it take too long to get us here? With three episodes of Picard released so far (out of the total ten) there’s a contingent of criticism that laments how sluggish the series is moving. When you look at reviews for Picard, even the very positive ones seem to go out of their way to say the show is “slow.”

But, to that criticism, I have a question: Did we all forget that The Next Generation was perhaps the slowest Star Trek of them all? In fact, I’d argue, that loving Star Trek is—at least partially—less about saying “engage” and more about saying, “make it…slow.”

Light spoilers ahead for the first three episodes of Star Trek: Picard.
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Star Trek: Picard

Corruption at the Daystrom Institute Might Play a Big Role in Star Trek: Picard

Ryan Britt

Wed Feb 5, 2020 1:30pm 6 comments Favorite This

In its first two episodes, Star Trek: Picard has subtly reminded us that the Daystrom Institute–the spot where a lot of rogue A.I. comes from–is also the most prestigious cybernetics research organization in the galaxy. Here’s why the history of the Daystrom Institute prior to Picard suggests that all these rogue A.I.s might not be an accident.

Spoilers ahead for the first two episodes of Star Trek: Picard. Speculation follows.

Star Trek: Picard

Is the Zhat Vash in Star Trek: Picard Fighting Rogue A.I. “Control” From Star Trek: Discovery?

Ryan Britt

Fri Jan 31, 2020 2:46pm 23 comments 4 Favorites [+]

Screenshot Credit: CBS

Spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Picard, season 1, episode 2, “Maps and Legends.”

Turns out, the Romulans–or a significant secret society of them–have a serious bone to pick with “all forms of synthetic life.” The latest wrinkle in Star Trek: Picard has added a new detail to the origin story of the Romulan’s Tal Shiar spy network in the form of a new cabal called “the Zhat Vash.” We know only two things so far: They’re thousands of years old and they really don’t seem to like synthetics or artificial intelligence.

But why are they active now? What is it about near-human synthetic life that they hate and fear? And if we pull on this thread far enough…do we encounter Control, the big bad artificial intelligence from the latest season of Star Trek: Discovery?

Are these two shows more connected than we thought?

Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard Comic Fully Explains Jean-Luc’s Romulan Companions — Laris and Zhaban

Ryan Britt

Thu Jan 30, 2020 3:28pm 11 comments 1 Favorite [+]

Jamie Mcshane as Zhaban, Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard and Orla Brady as Laris. (Credit: CBS All-Access)

Spoilers ahead for aspects of Star Trek: Picard episode 2: “Maps and Legends”.

One of the quirkiest mysteries at the start of Star Trek: Picard has suddenly been answered. If you’re confused about why Jean-Luc is living with a couple of Romulans at Château Picard, you’ll only get hints in the actual TV series itself. (Well, thus far.) Because the complete answer to this huge change in the status quo is elucidated in the final issue of the IDW comic book miniseries, Star Trek: Picard: Countdown.

Here’s how the third and final issue of the prequel comic reveals Laris and Zhaban’s fate and explains why they’re so loyal to Jean-Luc in Star Trek: Picard.

Doctor Who

Doctor Who May Be Creating a 12-Regeneration Cycle Before the First Doctor

Ryan Britt

Wed Jan 29, 2020 12:00pm 57 comments 15 Favorites [+]

Photo Credit: Ben Blackall/BBC Studios/BBC America

Smack in the middle of its (currently ongoing) 12th season, Doctor Who has introduced the biggest Time Lord twist in very recent memory, and we’ve been left with so many big questions: Has the Doctor lost the memories of her life on Gallifrey? How many? A lifetime’s worth? Several lifetime’s worth? And when we say “Doctor,” what now are we talking about?

This latest reveal, which I’ll get more specific about below, leaves us with a lot of questions. But, if you take a look back through the show (WAY back), there seems to be only one answer. And it goes all the way back to the earliest days of regeneration.

Spoilers ahead for Doctor Who, season 12, episode 5, “Fugitive of the Judoon.”

Star Trek: Picard

3 Ways Data’s Bad Brother Lore Could Crash the Star Trek: Picard Party

Ryan Britt

Tue Jan 28, 2020 12:00pm 10 comments 1 Favorite [+]

Screenshot: CBS

The Soong boys are back! In “Remembrance,” the very first episode Star Trek: Picard, we saw two of the three Soong siblings: Data appeared twice in Picard’s dreams, and B-4 was in pieces in a drawer at the Daystrom Institute. But what about the third identical “brother”, the infamous Lore? Could Data’s dastardly brother still be around? And could he bother all these folks in Star Trek: Picard? Let’s look at where we last left Lore in The Next Generation timeline, plus meditate on his previous comebacks for clues for how he might have snuck his way back to the Final Frontier. Get ready to boldly explore the lore of…Lore!

Spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Picard, season 1, episode 1, “Remembrance.”

Star Trek

After Picard, There Are Two More Secret Live Action Star Trek Shows — But What Are They?

Ryan Britt

Fri Jan 17, 2020 11:00am 18 comments 2 Favorites [+]

Credit: CBS

As we get ready to revisit the 24th-century future in Star Trek: Picard , and still eagerly await the USS Discovery’s jump to the 32nd-century in season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery, we can’t help but look further ahead in our current timeline to even more Star Trek television…

According to a statement made by Trek producer Alex Kurtzman at the Television Critics Association last week, “There are two more live-action shows that haven’t been announced yet” beyond Picard, Discovery, and the as yet untitled Section 31 series. So what are those two shows? With a dash of speculation, mixed with facts and topped off with a degree of intrepidity, here are five possible live-action Star Trek series that could materialize sometime in the next few years.

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