the United States, "Star Wars" and "Star Trek", which came all the way from the 1970s, probably represent the two legends of science fiction films. In this sense, the American drama "Star Trek: Picard" broadcast on CBS in early 2020 is still continuing the legend.
discovery of old IP
the "Star Wars" series that dominates the big screen , " Star Treks " (Star Treks) started out as a TV series (more than 700 episodes have been filmed). But it is fundamentally different from ordinary fast-food soap operas. Each series in the play has a captain who is respected by his subordinates and performs various missions for lofty ideals. He takes excellent crews to explore new strange worlds and bravely sail to the unreached universe. Prehistoric.
is also with emotion that such a classic IP was almost dead at first. In 1960, Gene Roddenberry (Gene Roddenberry) wrote a script, but it was not seen by any film company. It wasn't until May 1964 that the National Broadcasting Corporation promised to give him a chance, and the predecessor of " Star Trek" "The Cage" came into being. Although it is too esoteric to be loved by the public, the company has not given up on this project. In July 1965, Gene absorbed his previous experience, and finally created the work "The Places Before People Haven't Come" that not only meets the tastes of the company's senior management, but also meets the public's aesthetics. The script moved to the screen in the second year, which was the first episode of "Star Trek: Original Origins", so the "Star Trek" series was truly on track.
are 79 episodes of "Star Trek: Original Origins". Not only was it broadcast for three years (1966-1969), but it was also the most replayed episode in the history of American television. At the same time, it also established the world view of the entire "Star Trek" series (TV series and movies). "Primary Origin" sets the background of the era in the 23rd century AD, when the earth humanity had entered the space age. In the "first quadrant" of the Milky Way, the people on Earth and the Vulcans formed the "Interstellar Federation". "Original Origin" mainly tells the story of the crew of the Federal Starship Enterprise, under the leadership of Captain Kirk, on a five-year expedition in previously unknown space.
"Enterprise" in "Original Origins" is responsible for exploring unknown areas in the universe, and is always on guard against the two major races from the second quadrant of the galaxy, the Klingon and the aggressive Romulans (split from Vulcan) ), and the half-human, half-mechanical race "Borg" from the fourth quadrant. Its social organization is similar to a hive, with only a unified will. Their ultimate goal is to assimilate all races that can be encountered. "Resistance is futile" (Resistance is futile). This line became one of the signs of the Borg people, and was even rated as one of the 100 greatest TV buzzwords by TV Land.
Trek: Original Origins" can be said to be an instant hit and rank among the epic works in one fell swoop. As far as its impact is concerned, the National Space Administration received nearly 400,000 emails when it asked for the name of its first space shuttle, asking the government to name the spacecraft "Enterprise", which is also a good story. The producers of course have not let go of the reason for this IP. The TV series "Star Trek: Animated Series", "Star Trek: The Next Generation", "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", "Star Trek: Voyager", "Star Trek" : Enterprise Number" was launched one after another.
the development of "Star Trek" TV series has not been smooth sailing. Not only did the news of "stop broadcasting" emerge endlessly, the copyright has also changed hands many times. "Star Trek: Enterprise" after they finish off the air for 12 years, until 2017 Paramount before restarting a new series "Star Trek: The Discovery" . The launch of the special episode attracted a large number of viewers, with 9.6 million viewers, among which adults aged 18 to 49 had a viewership rate of 1.9. Seeing "Star Trek" as a veteran IP, the appeal is still very strong. In August 2018, CBS Television Studio announced the production of a new "Star Trek" series. It is not surprising that this is the " Star Trek: Picard .
shadow
to common sense, when the audience watches a TV drama, the audience's own experience and memories will participate in his watching activities. This kind of experience and memory may come from the TV series, or it may come from the personal life experience of the audience. Therefore, the main creators of the new generation of "Star Trek" series are very clear. When TV series are classified as "nostalgic" theme, they must first ensure that some loyal fans are bound with "feelings" before expanding market influence. Also known as Trekkies. In "Star Trek: Picard" , this kind of catering to Trekkies is reflected in the "tribute" to the old version in various details and plots.
of all, Jean-Luc Picard, the protagonist of "Star Trek: Picard" , is an "old face" in the "Star Trek" series. In "Star Trek: The Next Generation", he is the captain of the Federal Starship Enterprise D (NCC-1701-D). Picard also appeared in the next four "Star Trek" movies. In the last three movies, Picard was the captain of another Starship Enterprise E-because in the seventh film of "Star Trek" In "Daily Change of Stars", Enterprise D has crashed). Like Picard's long history, his actor has always been the famous British actor Sir Patrick Stewart.
man is 80 years old, which matches the personality of Jean-Luc Picard in "Star Trek: Picard" -a former Star Federation general who has retired and lives in seclusion at home. As for the reason for his retirement, the play is also cleverly connected with the 2009 restarted movie "Star Trek" . In this movie, Romulus, the home star of the Romulans, one of the four major races of the galaxy, is destroyed. "Star Trek: Picard" further expands the plot. In order to save the Romulans in desperation, Picard responded by using the star fleet to transfer the Romulans to a safe planet. Unexpectedly, the Interstellar Federation finally rejected this plan, and Picard, who had nothing to do, could only protest with his resignation.
idler Jean-Luc Picard still remembers the past in his dreams, and his loyal adjutant, the humanoid robot Major Data, in the 2002 movie "Star Trek X: Nemesis", Data is to save Picard. At the expense of his own life. But before and after, due to an accidental rebellion of "artificial humans" on Mars, the Interstellar Federation permanently banned the research and development of "artificial humans". According to the setting in the play, the story of "Star Trek: Picard" took place twenty years after "Star Trek X: Nemesis". Interestingly, it has been almost 20 years since "The Nemesis" was released in real life .
who couldn't stay idle, finally started a new adventure, and in the process met an old acquaintance, "Seven of Nine". In the play, a line was given at the right time, "She used to be Borg (person), just like him", which is really the finishing touch. "Seven of Nine" first appeared in "Star Trek: Voyager", and its full name is "Nine Seven of the Third Squad of Joint Matrix Zero One". She was one of the first humans to be assimilated by the Borg. Similarly, Picard had unfortunately fallen into the hands of the infamous Borg when he commanded Enterprise D and became the "Rochutes of Borg (spokesperson)." The Borg made him a representative. Force the earth to surrender unconditionally to Borg. Fortunately, Picard and "Seven of Nine" eventually broke free from the clutches of the Borg and regained their humanity. Their unexpected encounter in "Star Trek: Picard" is undoubtedly a means for the producers to please Trekkies.
passers-by understand?
course, another understanding of paying tribute to the classics is that passers-by and audiences cannot get it. There is not enough foundation for the "Star Trek" series, so it is impossible to comprehend the unfamiliar plot connection of the audience, what else can you expect from "Star Trek: Picard" ?
picture is of course an important aspect. In the consumer era, visual effects have become an important consideration for the audience to accept a film and television drama. For "Star Trek," a sci-fi series in terms of this course, even more so. It is very important to give the audience a fresh, unfamiliar, and very different scene from the real world in a movie or TV series. Without the visual spectacle, there is no way to talk about the special enjoyable experience of the audience shaking and stimulating. In fact, although it is generally believed that the era of visual spectacle that opened the film by the use of special effects was "Star Wars" directed by George Lucas , the first film of "Star Trek" cannot be ignored. "Star Trek 1: Infinite Space" won the Oscar nominations for Best Visual Effects and Best Art Director. It can be seen that in keeping with the trend of spectacle and removing the boundary between the real world and the virtual world as much as possible, the "Star Trek" series has never fallen behind.
a result, with the help of computer special effects, the audience saw an eye-catching future world in "Star Trek: Picard" -although there are familiar place names such as "Boston" or "Okinawa"; dazzling battles between star warships The scene is also a shot that cannot be missed. Of course, two famous black technology settings in the "Star Trek" series are also indispensable. One is the curvature drive (Warp). By distorting the space, people and spacecraft can be transferred from one place to another in an instant. Due to the popularity of Liu Cixin [Weibo] 's "Three-Body" , this remote scientific concept has gradually become popular. Second, beam transmission (Beam sb. up), under the premise of mastering your body temperature and physical condition, breaks down your body into quanta, and transmits it from one place to another. Put the quantum combination into the original you where you need to be. Although the viewers of "Star Trek: Picard" may not understand this setting, the scenes presented by the TV series are quite easy to understand.
for the plot of "Star Trek: Picard" , if the unfamiliar character is treated as a brand new character, it will not be particularly difficult for passers-by audiences to understand. Of course, the audience will soon find that the Romulans, who are the villains in the play, have a distinctive feature-pointed ears, which can be easily distinguished from the people on earth. In the play, Picard encountered a perfect humanoid robot in the manor life and came to ask for help. In the follow-up investigation, he realized that the origin of the robot was probably related to his former close partner Data. In order to solve this Mystery, the retired Picard sailed to space again on a starship (unfortunately not the Enterprise this time).
