[Interview starts at 3:11]
Tony and Laurie are joined by Star Trek: Voyager‘s Garrett Wang this week! Before his arrival, they cover the news: The Directors Guild has made a deal and averted a strike as the Actors Guild is gears up to start negotiations, and there’s a another new Star Trek game coming out. Then they get into the interview with Garrett, who clears up some rumors about Harry Kim appearing on Picard and Prodigy, talks about his love for Strange New Worlds (and how he’d like to appear on it), what he’s learned about Voyager from doing the Delta Flyers podcast (which is almost at the end of the series), does some impressions of his former shipmates, and takes our Star Trek questionnaire. Tony and Laurie wrap things up with a unique new Star Trek comedy podcast and Marc Maron’s amazing interview with William Shatner. Only one week until the season 2 premiere of Strange New Worlds!
Links:
Directors Guild Reaches Tentative Deal With Studios and Streamers [The Hollywood Reporter]
WGA, SAG-AFTRA Say DGA Deal Won’t Change Their Contract Goals [Variety]
Interview: Anson Mount & Rebecca Romijn On Character Metamorphosis In ‘Strange New Worlds’ Season 2
Star Trek: Infinite’ Strategy Game Announced – Watch Teaser Trailer
The TOS fight song in The Cable Guy
Armin Shimerman reflects on 1994 Northridge earthquake [The Hollywood Reporter]
Bits:
Tony: Christina Chong And Other Star Trek Vets Join Celebrity Comedy Podcast Retelling ‘The Wrath Of Khan’
Laurie: William Shatner on WTF with Marc Maron
Let us know what you think of the episode in the comments, and should you be so inclined, please review us on Apple.
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The Writers Guild should use the Director’s agreement at least as a starting framework to get negotiations moving again. This report that they won’t consider that at all is head-scratchingly ridiculous.
Their strike management and strike PR has been a disaster so far — “the optics” look like too much pride and not enough willingness to come to the bargaining table and seriously negotiate and compromise. That may not be the case, but they’re in danger of coming off looking that way to the uneducated (on this topic ) general public
Do you believe the WGA should be negotiating with the AMPTP right now and are simply choosing not to?
I’ll answer your question in a different way — If the WGA said today, “we think the DGA agreement presents a starting point for new negotiations,” (instead of basically throwing the DGA under the bus) then I have no doubt that the AMPTP would resume negotiations immediately.
So, you believe the WGA could get the AMPTP to immediately cease their negotiations with SAG-AFTRA, which began on Wednesday, to bargain with them?
If they did what I recommended, I think they could certainly be talking with the AMPTP by some point next week regardless of where the SAG negotiations are.
Given that one of the main obstacles to avoiding the strike was the repeated refusals of AMPTP to respond constructively with counter proposals to a significant proportion of WGA’s non-monetary demands, this continues to be a very weird take Decks&Necks.
Collective Bargaining inherently involves bargaining, when one side (AMPTP in this case) digs in , disengages and doesn’t counter for a month or six weeks before a strike date, its fairly clear that they were hoping their deep pockets would ride out the other side.
What is the AMPTP suppose to do when the WGA comes out completely rejecting the DGA agreement as even a starting point for a framework?
WGA tried to negotiate, spent weeks advising they could strike if their very reasonable demands were not met. By the way, their final demands before the strike were already a compromise.
Yet the DGA had similar issues, but instead of acting all belligerent and posing for the media with “strike photo ops,” they bargained in good faith and got largely what they wanted.
You do understand that playing one bargaining agent off against another is a standard tactic?
So, is trying to make your opponent look bad.
You are missing the point. The WGA is making themselves look bad the way they are handling this. It’s like they are running the dream scenario for the AMPTP themselves on this. I feel bad for the writers, because their union management is running a clown show right now.
In our back and forth on this, I think you keep assuming that I don’t support the writers and their legitimate positions — that’s not true at all. My comments are rather focused on the union mismanagement and their PR disaster concerning this strike — the WGA mgmt team and approach has been amateurish and ineffective.
I’m not sure who the WGA looks bad to. I see nothing but support for them in Hollywood and beyond. Are you seeing something else?
The WGA is getting bypassed now by the two other guilds (DGA and SAG) who have shown more willingness to compromise on new rules for working terms and AI protection then they have shown. And the DGA just came to what they consider to be a fair agreement with the AMPTP, and I expect that the SAG will use that as a starting point framework for their negotiations, and I would be surprised if they don’t have an agreement done by mid-July, if not earlier.
And if you read carefully the media reports of what some in the WGA are saying (you have to look hard, because the writers covering this are like 99.9% backing their TV/movie writer counterparts), you will see arrogant, unhelpful comments like this one that was reported in the Hollywood Reporter from an anonyms WGA strike leader:
You can know the knife’s coming. You can hunch your shoulders and brace for the impact. You can even tell yourself, it doesn’t matter. You’ve been stabbed before, you survived. You can do all that and it still stings. June gloom came hard this week: the DGA cut its deal…Or as I like to think of it, Munich 1938.*
So, I get that the WGA wants more than what the Directors got, but the Directors were able to get compromise agreements on streaming work protection and AI-protection, so to simply throw the DGA off the bus (and the WGA leadership has also basically publicly said this in a nicer way in the last few days) is not helping their membership. They should be saying, “we have issues with this, and is doesn’t go far enough for the protections our membership needs, but we can use this as a starting point framework now with negotiations with the AMPTP.”
But no, they prefer to wait with unrealistic expectations. They should have been driving this, now they will be a “passenger” and will eventually have to drop their posturing and work off of what the DGA and SAG get. So yeah, I think the WGA leadership has botched this, and their membership is eventually going to have to agree to terms that would have been less than what they would have got if they had been more willing to compromise this Spring at the negotiating table. They wanted a big strike with lot’s of media coverage more than getting serious and making some compromises with the AMPTP this Spring — that is my opinion…and I think in the end, my opinion here will shown to have been correct.
Which, of course, is all you care about.
It’s beats being wrong. :-)
That being said, I don’t want AI to replace writers, directors or actors jobs, nor my job, or yours.
Well SAG has authorized a strike if need be and a lot of actors are out there marching with the WGA strikers. And while the DGA won on the AI issue, the AMPTP won’t even discuss it in terms of the writers. I don’t know what compromise there can be if one side won’t talk at all. Anyway… I hear a lot of industry-wide support for the WGA so I still don’t know what this negative perception is. Their industry colleagues are supporting them.
Your entire opinion is based on one stray comment in The Hollywood Reporter? Is this a serious comment or a troll? Hard to say. Most of the comments posted by this username use a lot of words to say they’re firmly against strike actions by labor. That said, since you’re always right, interested to read your take on the negotiating chart the WGA released to its members that showed the AMPTP not offering counterproposals to most of the bargaining points. As an ignorant person, I need to be educated on where the compromise points are that the guild walked away from so that I can join you in condemning them.
Yes, you are a tad ignorant — that negotiating chart shows that of 22 area for negotiating, 6 have been agreed to and 7 the AMPTP has made counter-offers on — so that is 13/22 (about 60%) of issues that have been resolved or that both sides have submitted positions on. For the remaining 8 items (40%), the AMPTP is currently rejecting the points, as some are obviously unprecedented, prohibitively costly and rather pie-in-the-sky unrealistic (e.g. each member of a team gets P&H contributions as if they were writing as an individual…yeah, right, I want that too in my field for any teams I support no matter how small my participation, we all do…lol).
So for that 40% of items, the SAG needs to sharpen their pencils and drop some of the wishful thinking areas and reduce the scope others and re-propose a trimmed set of those items that isn’t out-of-hand, “instantly rejectable” to AMPTP.
This is how negotiations need to work. The side staring out making a long list of demands eventually needs to to trim the “nice to have” sort of “BS’y” set of demands that that know they were never going to get to bring the side they are asking terms from back to the table. This is what DGA did, and just watch, this is what SAG is going to do.
Next?
Thank you! I was waiting for your analysis since I’m too stupid to draw my own conclusions and you’re the only person with the right answers.
Who knows if I am right, but I not willy nilly just going to side with the “feel good story” of the writers just because the media and internet group-think tells me I must do that. I am taking a broad viewpoint and I really don’t have a side on this, except that I do want AI protection for all of the creative unions, while at the same time I think the AMPTP has some good points about the financial future of streaming that the writers just put their heads the in the sand on and try to pretend it doesn’t exist.
Honestly, given that I am one person who is taking a position that differs from most views on this, it’s amazing how defensive you and others get when I bring up my views and back it up with my information? I mean, I am one person — so so what? — where is your and others’ confidence in your own views on this given you all are obviously so threatened by my more balanced views of both side of this strike?
Good god, man, show some more confidence in your own views…I am just one freaking person here, so my views should not be be so threatening and challenging to your viewpoint unless I guess you have some concerns that perhaps I might be right, I guess???
“Who knows if I am right” — you do! You’ve said so yourself! And at this point, your views are so strong that I just have to believe you know what you’re talking about and all the other details that get omitted every time you express a view connected to the negotiations must be a sign of wisdom I just don’t possess; therefore, it is logical to simply follow you as the thought leader here. I do not see how the WGA compromises on AI without hurting the bottom line for the profession of writing and if the thought is “well, they don’t compromise on AI, they compromise on literally everything else,” then I think the end of the WGA happens either way. This MBA period just determines how fast that happens.
This isn’t a game shown competition. The Directors had their priority items that they were able to strike a deal on. It remains to be seen if a deal can be reached with SAG. If a deal is reached with SAG, that likely strengthens the WGA’s hand…..only of management is willing to return to the table.
By virtually all accounts, management has never taken these negotiations seriously, so I’m not sure why you think the WGA jettisoning their own proposal for that of another union, then begging management for an audience is a good idea.
I’m one of those “uneducated” members of the general public, I’ve read upon this, and the conclusion I’ve arrived at is WFG has done a decent job keeping their strike in the public eye, and has been pretty transparent with the state of negotiations…or lack of them. You’ve offered up little evidence to support that the WGA is the clown show in these negotiations, other then to offer up a few opinions that are head scratchers.
We’ll see
Loved this “crossover” between two of my fav podcasts. Garrett always brings positive energy to the table, and it was enjoyable to hear him Talkin’ Trek with Laurie & Anthony!
If the Delta Flyers cover Chuck (another fav show), I will have to stop cheap-skating and lay down some latinum as a patreon! Although I agree with Laurie: Fringe would also be a great “next show” for the ‘Flyers.
Keep up the great podcasts, y’all! 👍👏
I watched a couple of Chuck episodes after Garrett recommended it, and I could definitely get behind them doing their podcast about it. I really enjoy Robbie’s behind-the-scenes info, so that way we’d still get it… along with his access to guests. Although apparently he’s also pals with Joshua Jackson, who I fell in love with on Fringe. All good options, as is doing another Trek series!
Chuck brings the laughter and fun. But Fringe, woah, there are some deep and *very* touching character moments. The “White Tulip” episode comes to mind, but there were many. Fringe was Epic.
No reason not to do both!! :)
….and FYI Laurie….if you just watched a coupla Chucks, keep going. It really gains momentum. It’s akin to you telling someone, “keep watching after TNG Season 1!” :)
Oh definitely! My TV dance card is full at the moment, but it’s on the back-up list.
Chuck is a lot of fun. I was a little sad CBS’s (and Kurtzman’s) “Limitless” sequel series didn’t take off because it had similar vibes.
I can not wait to listen to this! I have been listening to the Delta Flyers podcast for over a year now and just this week finally caught up to the most recent episode which is in the middle of season 7. But I really really enjoyed it. I originally listened to it to hear their thoughts on the episodes, but I learned SO much about TV production and how Star Trek is made I have never heard before. It’s really fascinating to hear so many They go into so much depth with everything. And it’s fun to hear all the anecdotes about Hollywood and how McNeil helped coached a very nervous Jennifer Lopez through an audition in her first TV role or that he was creating a show with another producer who was writing a pilot for another show called the Big Bang Theory and unfortunately got picked up. ;)
But I don’t think I knew so much about Star Trek actors until I listened to this podcast lol. Just so much great stuff and Wang is really fun to listen to, especially when he goes into his impressions of the cast. I just have a bigger appreciation for these guys and the show now.
Of course I share your thoughts on the Delta Flyers. Love it!!!
I really love the trek questionnaire. I hope you do those in the future with other trek interviews.
Voyager was my first contact. I watched the pilot on UPN when it first aired. I always loved Garret Wang. He was a great actor and I loved episodes like Deadlock and Timeless. He was terrific. I’m disappointed we didn’t see a Captain Kim in S3 PIC, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed for Prodigy.
By the way Laurie…..I’m also a fan of Chakotay and Seven. Before all this new trek, my head canon post Endgame had them living together as a couple in AZ where Chakotay teaches Archaeology and Seven, with all Borg implants removed, working for the Federation on Earth. I thought they were a perfect match.
LLAP!
Hooray! There are a few of us out there. I totally understand the objections but I thought it made sense that she’d be drawn towards someone who was so in touch with his inner intuition and feelings, and that he’d have overcome his objections to her and see her as the person she was. I don’t know, I liked it. Technically it came out of nowhere but I felt the backstory in my head. I liked her arc on Picard but wish they’d developed more of her struggles with Starfleet that were raised in season 3 and then dropped—or rather, were resolved by Shaw instead of by Seven herself. Anyway… agree that Garrett was great on Voyager and my husband’s favorite Voyager episode is “Timeless!” It’s a good one. I hope he turns up on Lower Decks or Prodigy, given that there isn’t quite the right space for Harry Kim in live-action at the moment.
Agreed! The Seven/Chakotay relationship did pop out of nowhere but my head canon is like, “we don’t see them 24/7 so maybe it happened off screen.” Lol!
Same!
Great interview, y’all. Garrett Wang — how could anyone possibly dislike this guy? I’d be glad to see Harry Kim again in any Trek show.
Agree. He’s a lot of fun and is great at engaging with people. Very charismatic and also just likes to have a good time, which I appreciate!
It was great hearing from Garrett Wang and I sincerely hope he is able to not only play an alien and also show up as a promoted Kim on one of the shows as well. Don’t limit yourself Garrett, why not be able to do both ?
Okay, I’ll give Delta Flyer a try.
And keep up the questionnaire? It’s a great conversation piece!!