First Look at Star Trek: Picard

CBS All Access and Bell Media’s Canadian speciality sci-fi channel Space released a first teaser trailer for the new sci-fi series yesterday.

The latest Star Trek series features Sir Patrick Stewart reprising his role as Jean-Luc Picard and takes place twenty years after his final appearance in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). Patrick Stewart first announced the series in August 2018 at the Las Vegas Star Trek Convention calling it an “unexpected but delightful surprise” and has shared plenty of behind-the-scenes material on Twitter in the meantime.

Executive Producer Alex Kurtzman revealed that the show would be a serialised single story and something of a psychological character study of Admiral Picard. The character is to find himself ‘radically altered’ by the events of 2009’s Star Trek prequel movie, vis-à-vis the destruction of Romulus. The trailer shows Picard tending to a vineyard, presumably several years after retiring from Star Fleet for unknown reasons.

The series will be split into five ‘blocks’ with separate directors. The initial block will be directed by TV director Hanelle Culpepper (Gotham, Star Trek: Discovery), the first woman to direct an opening episode of any Star Trek series. Actor Jonathan Frakes, known for his portrayal of Picard’s first mate William Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation will direct the second block. Frakes also directed episodes of several Star Trek series’ and Seth MacFarlane’s latest parody sci-fi series The Orville.

Star Trek: Picard also stars Santiago Cabrera (Merlin, Dexter), Michelle Hurd (Daredevil, Lethal Weapon) and Alison Pill (American Horror Story). Filming took place at California’s Santa Clarita Studios in April 2019 under the working title Drawing Room.

The first ten-episode season of Star Trek: Picard is expected to be released later this year on CBS All Access and Canada’s Bell Media. Each episode will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video within twenty-four hours of its initial release, unlike 2017’s Star Trek: Discovery which was streamed immediately on Netflix.

See the trailer here! 

Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season Six… Nailed It

Hugely popular comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine was unfortunately cancelled by Fox after its fifth season, much to the disappointment of fans everywhere. After a series of negotiations between Hulu, Netflix and a few terrestrial TV networks, NBC finally decided to pick up Brooklyn Nine-Nine for thirteen episodes, later deciding to up the episode count for the sixth season to eighteen. In February 2019, NBC announced that the show had been renewed for a seventh season.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a heart-warming single-camera situational comedy set in the fictional 99^th precinct in South-West New York. The show features a host of delightfully weird characters led by Captain Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher) and detective Jake Peralta portrayed by Andy Samberg (SNL, The Lonely Island).

The fantastic supporting cast consists of Terry Crews, Stephanie Beatriz, Melissa Fumero, Jo Lo Truglio, Chealsea Peretti, Dirk Blocker and Joel McKinnon Miller, plus a host of strong guest stars including (among so many others) Craig Robinson, Jimmy Smits, Katy Sagal, Bill Hader and stand-up comedian Patton Oswalt as Fire Marshall Boone (named after one of the show’s producers).

The sixth season gave fans yet another host of enticing stories in the wake of Captain Holt’s unfortunate failure to attain his dream job as police commissioner. The season brought us the return of some beloved characters such Doug Judy the illusive Pontiac Bandit (Craig Robinson), as well as the return of the Hallowe’en heist (replaced for filming convenience with Cinco De Mayo). We explore further development of our favourite characters and even, the backstory we never knew we needed… A Hitchcock and Scully case from the 1980’s!

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has awarded the sixth season a rare approval rating of 100% based on 24 user reviews. Fans have commented that, even considering a change of network, the show’s tone, cast and scripting have remained intact and unchanged. The much-anticipated seventh season is due for released in season 7.

Nine-Nine!!!

Rush – Remembering Niki Lauda 1949-2019

On May 20^th, Austrian Formula 1 legend Niki Lauda passed away at age 70. Lauda won the world championship title for Ferrari in 1975 before surviving one of the worst incidents in the history of the sport, only to return to be narrowly defeated the same season by British driver James Hunt. In 1977, the Austrian driver took home another championship victory for Ferrari before going into temporary retirement and returning to win a third and final championship title in 1984 for McLaren.

"Niki was a champion. He was an icon. He was an Austrian treasure. He was one of my dear friends. I will miss this generous, trailblazing hero with my whole heart."

- Arnold Schwarzenegger

Via Twitter

At the German Grand Prix 1976, Lauda’s Ferrari swerved into the embankment on the final corner of the notorious fourteen-mile Nürburgring and burst into flames. The driver’s ill-fitting helmet slid off during the collision leaving his head exposed to a lethal inferno for almost a full minute, causing severe burns, blood poisoning and lung damage. Lauda underwent extensive skin graft surgery to reconstruct his face including a full replacement of his eyelids, having also lost most of his right ear, the majority of his hair and had severe scarring on most of his body.

“Racing 40 days after that accident was the most courageous act of any sportsman I’ve ever seen in my life.”

-      John Watson

Lauda’s team-mate at McLaren

Anyway, as NtNR is a media blog, it seems only fair to mention Ron Howard’s 2013 biopic Rush. Lauda is portrayed by Daniel Brühl (Inglorious Basterds, Captain America: Civil War) in the movie which follows the Austrian driver’s famous rivalry with British Hesketh/McLaren driver James Hunt, played by Chris Hemsworth (Avengers, In the Heart of the Sea).

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The movie, scripted by Peter Morgan (The Crown, Bohemian Rhapsody), grossed just over $90m worldwide in its lifetime at the box office against a production budget of $38m. The supporting cast features a host of familiar faces including Olivia Wilde (House, In Time), Alexandra Maria Lara (Downfall), Stephen Mangan (Billy Elliot), Julian Rhind-Tutt (Tomb Raider) as well as World War Z actor Pierfrancesco Favino playing the part of Italian Ferrari driver Clay Regazzoni and even a brief appearance by Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer.

“I will miss our conversations, our laughs, the big hugs after winning races together. God rest your soul. Thank you for being a bright light in my life.”

-      Lewis Hamilton

Five-time F1 world champion

Niki Lauda was a true legend of Formula 1. Tributes have flooded in over the last couple of days from some famous faces in the sport including former team-mate at McLaren, John Watson and multi-championship winning British Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton.

Rush is available to watch on Netflix and Amazon Prime.