In this piece I want to talk about the current state of Star Trek, now I am not claiming to be a major fan or anything of the sort, but I did see the Pine fronted movies as a kid and have tried to get into the series that have come out since, whilst also going back and visiting the older series for a first time. Perhaps comparing the new to the old is not a favourable comparison, perhaps the bar is set too high, however, I really do find that these newer series just can’t hold a candle to the older shows and are noticeably weaker.
Why do I think Discovery and Piccard are so weak well that is an easy question dear reader, the problems of modern Star Trek can be traced back to one bad writer, Alex Kurtzman, the guy who brought you The Amazing Spider-Man sequel and The Mummy with Tom Cruise. Kurtzman is a hack by all accounts and has milked a relationship with J.J Abrams for all it is worth, hence his current position in the Star Trek universe.
Kurtzman doesn’t seem to understand a lot of the projects he is involved in, hence he thought a Silence Of The Lambs sequel series without Hannibal Lecter was a good idea, but nowhere is that more true than with Star Trek. Kurtzman turned Discovery into a platform to spout his political beliefs to anyone who would listen, and yes though the original series had a strong political centre it was handled far better than what Kurtzman did with Discovery, which seems purposefully divisive.
Piccard was a slightly different beast and at first had some promise, however, as the series continued it became clear that it was only created as a means for Kurtzman and co to milk nostalgia and to remind the fans of better times, only to then promptly screw them up. Piccard was less preachy but the issues of Discovery were there.
Discovery and Piccard have had very well published behind the scenes issues and poor ratings hence why Strange New Worlds is playing it safe and going back to basics, and so far I am only one episode deep into that show but it does seem better.
On the movie side of things, Tarantino was supposed to be involved with a Star Trek film for a while and then that got shot down, and now they are trying to get some more milage out of the Pine cast despite those films coming out a while ago now.
Honestly, if I had to give you a quick snap judgment as to the current state of Star Trek, from my perspective at least it seems as though the franchise is battling to stay relevant in the wider cultural and streaming landscape and possibly failing in that aim.
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