Race To The Bottom - The State of Star Trek

 Race To The Bottom - The State of Star Trek

As the Trek train gathered speed in the last few years to the extent we had five series' being produced at the same time (though still with less actual hours of content per year compared with the 90s), for a while at least it seemed like anything was possible - any character could return, any time period could be the setting of a new series and who knew how long Trek might continue, despite its creatively challenged outlook and style. Back in March 2023 I summed up my views on where Trek was, and now, over a year later, so much has changed it seemed a good moment to reflect. Not least because I've now seen examples of all the Trek series' to be created, I've first seen the end of a Kurtzman-era show and the start of two others. What has happened in the real world has clearly affected production, with strikes from actors and writers putting the brakes on the content freight train and the merging of Paramount with CBS, the company's money worries and position in the streaming wars all coming together to affect the state of Trek.

Modern Trek really has been like a train, starting slowly with 'DSC,' gaining a little steam with 'Short Treks,' gradually speeding up with 'Picard' and 'Lower Decks' and finally going full steam ahead with those plus 'Prodigy' and 'Strange New Worlds.' But it took a number of years to get to that level of output, and it appears that that period of reaching maximum momentum was short-lived. Very short-lived. With 'DSC' being unceremoniously concluded (albeit with the caveat of being 'generously' allowed to film extra scenes in order to make the season finale into a series finale), 'Picard' ending within its originally expected three seasons (despite the potential for the success of its third season's reception meaning it could very well have continued or had an immediate spinoff), 'Lower Decks' announced to be ending with its fifth season, 'Prodigy' kicked off the parent service over to Netflix (where this whole train started, outside of America anyway), with no guarantee its second season won't be its last, it's left for only 'SNW' to carry the role of flagship. And while we've had 'very Short Treks,' an historic first TV film (if you discount the feature-length episodes of past Trek series'), due this year in 'Section 31,' and the promise of another series, 'Starfleet Academy,' in the future, suddenly all the optimism that seemed to be accruing despite so many missteps in the management of the franchise in recent history, is dissipating, and we're seeing the brakes put on, only the huge buildup of steam that saw so much content previously, providing inertia before the juggernaut comes to rest, or at best slow to a trundle.

As I said last year, that may not be a bad thing. If this is as much Trek as we're likely to get maybe it was enough. Easy to say from my perspective since none of the new stuff to come (leaving out the near future - I'm still very much interested to see Seasons 4 and 5 of 'LD,' for example), gives me any anticipation for new Trek, and in fact looks set to remove most, if not all, of the kind of Trek that I actually garnered a relative increase in enjoyment from: 'Picard' Season 3, though with many of the same problems this era suffers from, was generally the best live action they've done, certainly an improvement on the series' first two horrible seasons, mainly because it's those actors playing those characters and they were all better than Patrick Stewart (who himself seemed more at ease in his performance, having the benefit of his old crew and friends around him). 'LD' continued its trend of appealing in its minutiae, to the extent you never knew who might show up, or what race (Breen!), putting to shame the live action series' being made for its attention to detail and solid work in many areas (though not all - even this still has its issues). Even 'Prodigy' went from being a 'Star Wars' kiddie cartoon to something that ended reasonably well (though I must admit it was the USS Dauntless and crew that interested me far more than the Protostar and her temporary crew).

'SNW' proved itself to be even worse than 'DSC' in some ways, subverting the characters, ruining some of them entirely (Nurse Chapel), wasting others (Number One), and only winning back some respect from me by redoing a classic 'TOS' episode via time travel and an alternate future, weirdly also subverting the Kurtzman-era's law that the season finale must be among the worst episodes, by being the best of Season 1! I continue to read positive comments from so many people about the series' qualities, and I can only assume these people don't care a jot about 'TOS' and that perhaps the pendulum swing of the original going from loved (in the reruns of the 70s), to mocked and considered ridiculous (in the 90s), to being revered (00s), and finally remade (2009-10s), and used as a launching point for Trek's return to 'TV' - I know 'DSC' was a prequel, but it was so close in time relative to every other Trek made, and the connections were drawn so quickly that it was clear the Kirk/Spock/Enterprise era was the main lure to try and capture as wide a demographic as possible. Now they're almost at the point of remaking 'TOS' and still calling it the Prime Universe, going against canon willy-nilly with T'Pring and the Gorn, the technology and the look... Just too many things to go into, including Pike being the weakest Captain we've had.

I should say I have yet to view Season 2 (soon...), but I already know about even more wholesale canon destruction which saddens me, to the extent I don't even watch it believing it's part of the same galaxy as 'TOS,' find it about as much a chore to get through a season as 'DSC,' and watch more as a fascination with seeing what more parts of history or character they'll destroy next! The same could be said for 'DSC,' except that was less personal, not taking place on the original Enterprise with some of the original Enterprise's crew. If the stories, acting style and dedication to preserving and exploring canon were strong, most things could be forgiven, but like 'DSC' I've found most episodes jarring and uncomfortable. The same can be said for all this modern era, but in the parts I do like it's been tamped down to some degree, with things I like, emphasised. But now, with 'Section 31,' a film I'd prefer never to have been made (the only saving grace being it isn't a series as it was originally planned to be - let's hope it's not turned into one!), and with the same being said for 'Starfleet Academy' (except that is a series!), there's nothing definite on the horizon that has any appeal to me at all! It's entirely possible they have other productions in the works, most likely more TV films since these would be relatively cheap to make compared to a full new series or season, and of course I'd like to see more from the era of 'Picard' if they were bringing back as many 'legacy' characters as they could before it's too late, but these are one-offs, and the overriding impression is of a studio that is spacing things out to the extent it'll probably be more like 2017-2019 where you were practically only getting one main Trek release a year, the train taking its time towards a gradually increasing pace.

With the state of the world being more unstable, both in the industry and in the wider geopolitics, it may be that such minor considerations as whether Trek continues or not won't be that much of a priority, and who knows, perhaps we'll be looking back on these last few years as idyllic that we could enjoy/be irritated by/argue about new Trek (even with the Covid virus which was another factor in the slow buildup to peak content production). That being said I still have a few seasons to go through and from what I've heard I actually do have minor anticipation for the final season of 'DSC,' even though I suspect it won't be much better than what they've done before, but I preferred Season 4 slightly, so maybe they have learned from so much bad writing and plotting, though the flaws are baked into the style, characters and choices of the whole production so even then I'm not expecting to go as far as to say I like it! Two more seasons of 'LD' (assuming they keep releasing the DVDs - haven't heard anything about Season 4 yet...), Season 2 of 'Prodigy,' and however many of 'SNW,' so there's certainly enough content I have at least some interest in for the near future, but no longer that sense of anything being possible, which strips any minor gloss that might have covered parts of the train right off.

A good time to slot in my recent seasons with the hierarchy I created last year:

- 'LD' S2 (remains my favourite from memory, largely thanks to the finale being the best thing modern Trek has produced, close to being a classic, though this is all from memory, I may change my view on second viewing when I come to review it later in the year)

- 'LD' S3 (close to the top spot with about as many good episodes as S2 and another strong finale, but also some lower points, such as the return of Peanut Hamper, which didn't favour it)

- 'Picard' S3 (better, in that it's an actual space mission set on a starship with an actual Starfleet crew, the return of all the main cast that finished 'TNG' and a better conclusion than 'Nemesis' allowed them. I'll certainly be rewatching to write reviews, and I look forward to it, though the villain was absolutely terrible!)

- 'LD' S1 (I might be a bit preemptive as I'm only halfway through reviewing it, but I generally like it a little more than I used to thanks to acclimatising to its style, and for the fact it does less damage to the late-24th Century than 'Picard')

- 'Picard' S1 (superseded by Season 3, although there are still good moments, though as a whole it's not good, not good at all, in fact quite distressingly bad)

- 'Short Treks' (no change, I can't say I want to revisit them, other than the remake of 'Coming of Age,' and with 'SNW' taking up the characters these are mostly footnotes in modern Trek history now)

- 'DSC' S4 (a slightly more thoughtful story, a pace that is far less frenetic, even though they still did nothing interesting with any of the characters, but the keys to its success are mainly the absence of evil Georgiou, and the partial absence of Tilly)

- 'DSC' S3 (as I've said before, the least obnoxious season, but little else to recommend it)

- 'Prodigy' S1 (difficult to know quite where to put this as it was pretty innocuous and inoffensive, yet also bland, occasionally irritating and a bit pointless from an adult perspective. It had none of the charm of 'TAS,' but it did improve towards the end. It also has a massive twenty episodes, vast compared with all other current Treks, but that made it a bit of a chore to get through since most were basic, simplistic introductions to the concepts of Trek, so it's like going back to a children's book when you've long since graduated to classic novels. I can see how the series could improve, however)

- 'DSC' S1 (switching places with S2 as I rewatched the first episode and it remains watchable, and although there were so many bad things about the season, from memory and even more exposure to Pike and his crew, I actually think I prefer this one, though both are among the most egregious, badly written messes that created such a weak base upon which to launch the current Trek boom)

- 'DSC' S2 (just too many bad things to go into)

- 'SNW' S1 (it's almost worth going up a few places for the good finale, but then that's only one episode and it's really only good because it feels more like an actual Trek episode... because it's a remake of an actual Trek episode!)

- 'Picard' S2 (hard to imagine a worse season of Trek - very boring, very stupid, a money-saving waste of time and possibly talent, although there wasn't much in evidence here. An so-so opportunity vastly squandered)

- 'very Short Treks' (yes, there is a Trek production worse than 'Shades of Grey,' 'The Children Shall Lead' and 'Picard' S2. While it had one episode that was actually quite good, most of them were offensive, disgusting or very stupid and were far from a fitting tribute to 'The Animated Series.' Just sad)

Anticipation Ratings:

SNW S2: **
LD S4: ***
DSC S5: **
Prodigy S2: **
Section 31: -
Starfleet Academy: -
25th Century, post-Picard: ***

Compare this with my list from 2023:

LD S3: ***
Picard S3: ***
DSC S4: **
Prodigy S1: ***
SNW S1: ***
Section 31: -
Starfleet Academy: -
25th Century TNNG: **

All this suggests I do still have some hopes of reasonably enjoyable Trek in the immediate to near future, but after that, certainly out of what's been confirmed as coming, not so much... I should say I really would not want the 'Legacy' series, post-'Picard' if it was about Captain Seven of Nine, as she's one of the most ruined characters of old and I'd be happy if I never saw her again in new adventures, so disappointed was I by Jeri Ryan and the writers' choices and interpretation of a wonderful character, nor would I be interested in Jack Crusher or any of the Titan, sorry, the Enterprise crew, unless bolstered by a return of 'TNG,' 'DS9' and 'Voyager' cast members as the chance to catch up with them would be my main interest. Though there's always the danger they could forever change or damage them as was done to some who have already been brought back.

As for the film series we've continued to hear rumours or announcements (I think they currently claim at least two films are in development, another Kelvin Timeline film, and a prequel film, neither of which I care about), but whether it will turn into anything substantial is only one minor question. The real question is whether a Trek film, now that the melodramatic, galactic-stakes style of all-action, little sense or reverence for continuity and future history has turned so much of the TV series' into mini-versions of the modern films, would be any good at all, other than a visual spectacle and little more. I doubt it, and my view on both TV and film sides is pessimistic. I always wondered what Trek would be like if it was made 'now,' after 'Enterprise' brought to a close the golden years, and we unequivocally know: stupider, brasher, in every way inferior, other than natural development of visual effects, the least important part of story. And yet there's still a small part of me that thinks it could be possible that someone could come along who actually understands Trek and could make the kind of quality output that was achieved for so long, to retcon the many issues and problems that now plague it. A Manny Coto figure who came in and tidied up many of the flaws of 'Enterprise.' I always hoped he'd return to Trek and get his own spinoff, maybe a continuation of 'Enterprise,' but that can never be. I say RIP to him, and also to Trek.