There are 7 different Star Trek shows either already on the air or on the way. Is this great for the franchise, or are things getting bloated?
If you’re a Star Trek fan, you’re riding pretty high these days. Log into CBS All Access and you have no shortage of content. There’s two seasons of Star Trek: Discovery, with a third coming soon. There’s Star Trek: Picard, about the latter days of Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Then there’s Star Trek: Lower Decks, an animated show about the lighter side of the Federation.
And there’s more on the way! Star Trek: Prodigy is another animated show aimed at a younger audience, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will be an episodic series that harkens back to the franchise’s roots.
So before long, there will be five Star Trek shows on the air. Is that too much? To hear Star Trek overboss Alex Kurtzman tell it, each is intended to stand on its own. “There are quite a few, and I think the idea for us is that it isn’t just about expansion for the sake of expansion,” he told Deadline. “It’s actually about exploring different corners of the universe, in the same way that the Short Treks explore different corners of the world of Star Trek, the idea being that each show should have its own unique identity, and you should not be thinking that you can get from one show, what you can get in another.”
"Everything has to feel different, unique, special and specific, and yet you want it all to be of a piece, and tie into the larger Trek universe. So, it’s been a very coordinated effort, on a lot of people’s parts, to make sure that the shows feel different, and are about different things, and are saying different things, and feel different, and look different, and sound different. So, that’s been really fun and really rewarding."
Oh yeah, we didn’t mention Short Treks, a series of Star Trek short films, both animated and live-action, originally intended to bridge the gap between Discovery seasons 1 and 2. Short Treks is up for Emmy this year for Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series, which is why Kurtzman is giving interviews in the first place. Some of the Short Treks stand by their own, some set up storylines in the other shows…it’s a place to play:
As for Kurtzman’s justification of six Star Trek TV projects running simultaneously (seven, if you count the upcoming series about Section 31), I dunno, man. He can say he’s laboring to make all of them different, but at some point it starts to look like bloat. When all of these shows are up and running, will there be any point throughout the year when new Star Trek episodes aren’t airing? It reminds me a little of what AMC is doing with its growing roster of Walking Dead series. Viewed cynically, it looks less like an opportunity fpr “exploring different corners of the universe” and more an attempt to make sure there’s always attention being to Star Trek, attention ViacomCBS can then leverage to sell merch and boxsets.
But that might just be me being bitter. Kurztman, for his part, sounds like he’s much purer of heart. “I think the mission of [Star Trek] is to make the world better,” he said. “[Star Trek creator Gene] Roddenberry’s vision of this was, ‘I’m going to create something that can show us the best of who we are, and can act as a compass that we can follow toward a future that’s better than the one we’re living in now.’ And we need that vision, now more than ever. I think it’s our responsibility to uphold it, and to allow future generations of kids, and past generations of adults who are long-term fans, to be reminded of how important it is to see the world through Gene Roddenberry’s eyes.”
“So, that’s the mission, right?” he added. “Let’s show people a future that’s better.” Well, now I feel bad for questioning the studio’s intentions.
Only maybe not, because some of the new shows have gone pretty far afield of Roddenberry’s original vision of a future without conflict, even if they’re basically optimistic at the end of the day. What do you all make of it?
Whatever my misgivings, there is a lot of good Trek to enjoy right now. Lower Decks has plenty more of its first season to show, while the third season of Discovery will premiere on October 15.
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