Paramount shouldn’t be merging with anyone. We need more competition, not less.
this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2024
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This chart makes it look like there's a lot of competition, but look at the actual 'content' part.
8 companies make almost all of our content. 5 of them make most of it. If Paramount and Sony merge, it will be 4, with 2 out of 8 making the most content.
Totally agreed.
The report comes as Paramount — owner of Paramount Pictures, CBS, Paramount+ and cable channels like MTV and Comedy Central — has been in exclusive M&A talks with David Ellison’s Skydance Media the past two weeks. Meanwhile, word emerged last week that Sony Pictures Entertainment was mulling a joint bid with private-equity firm Apollo Global Management, which had offered more than $27 billion for the entirety of the media company inclusive of its more than $14 billion in debt.
Skydance? Oh good, let's flush main timeline Star Trek straight down the toilet and only do Kelvin Trek from now on because pew pew explosions!
Anyone they sell to is going to try to squeeze blood from a stone. Star Trek will only suffer.
Definitely, but I have more hope in Sony not ruining Star Trek than I do in Skydance. Never mind the fact that most of their movies are bigger on special effects than they are on plot, look at what they've offered the world in terms of television thus far:
Sony? Who the hell knows. They make good TV and terrible TV. They haven't done much in terms of sci-fi TV, but they seem to at least be able to make a reasonable TV show that's not just a small screen version of pew pew explosions.
Sony is definitely a wildcard, so I'd prefer that (if merging is necessary). That lineup from Skydance does not fill me with confidence.
Skydance was essentially a financial backer for the Kelvin movies. Bad Robot (see also: Secret Hideout) is the driving force behind pewpewpewTrek.
I wasn't aware, but that makes sense.
That said, I think selling Star Trek to Skydance would still be a waste. I would rather see it go to Apple (which has been very good to science fiction from the start) or Universal (because I think they would also take good care of it, and because I love the irony of giving Trek back to NBC).
Apple (which has been very good to science fiction from the start)
I don't have Apple TV, so I can't speak for any of their other shows, but I have been told to avoid their Foundation TV show at all costs since I like the novels.
Foundation is really good, IMO. They added new characters to the story and changed some things up, so if you think the books are perfect you might have trouble accepting it. It's one of the most visually-breathtaking shows ever.
But Apple TV's crowning achievement is For All Mankind.
The story is Soviet Russia beats America to the moon, therefore the space race never ends and the USSR never falls. But the best description I've heard is that it "shows what happens between the moon landing and Star Trek."
Their other scifi stuff ranges from okay to excellent. THERE's a lot to choose from now. I just finished Constellation and really enjoyed it.
I just finished Constellation and really enjoyed it.
Just scrolling through some old trek conversations, literally 2 days after finishing constellation and I read this ... woot!
Yea, I found myself really enjoying it too. One of those wonderful things where I had no idea what it was going in and finding a sort of lower-hype style sci-fi trying for a real attempt at something a bit more dramatic and even surreal and I was just like "yes!". It certainly had its flaws IMO, but when it was working it was some of my fav TV in recent times!
spoiler
I loved that scene in the "other"/liminal cabin (well all of the cabin stuff was brilliant for me TBH) where the two Alice's and Jo have united and are just kinda processing their grief together. IMO, what a way to take a basic sci-fi idea, combine it with some surrealism in a fairly grounded mechanic (audio tapes and mirrors!) and make a statement about what tragedy is like.
I'm with you ... I think Apple and Star Trek is a perfect fit in the current environment.
Apple don't want anything to be too political about current affairs (see John Stewart) but clearly like the idea of doing sci-fi and stuff that's generally idealistic or moralistic. I'd expect them to be pretty respectful of the franchise's history and core ideals.
I would share my opinion on this, but they should already know it, considering how many trackers they ship with their app.
https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/364403/#trackers