No News Is Something News - The State of Star Trek

No News Is Something News - The State of Star Trek

Hearing nothing about the future of Trek beyond the limping out of the final seasons of 'Strange New Worlds' and 'Starfleet Academy' is bad news in the sense that it's sad news - no more Trek for the foreseeable future in a world where everything keeps being redone over and over? But it's good news for the fact that Trek has been done so badly for so long that we're at the stage where it's a relief not to have to watch any more of it. At one time I would have still held hope that the next iteration created by a different generation might recapture the essence and qualities so long lost, but now I don't even have that slight optimism, and in all likelihood when they do bring back the Trek name it'll be even worse: you like the fact that they brought back so many past Trek actors returning to their characters (even though there was a whole list of bizarre choices like the Punk on the bus, the outrageous Okona, or Shelby... okay, the last one I mention for being a poor way to finish out a character), well in the 4th generation it'll be all gender rebootings and recastings to better balance the ethnic mix of the world. You like canon (even though it's been broken, stomped underfoot and maybe even spat on), well it'll all be 'free' from canon, unrestrained and unconstrained, and if you think 'but they can't ever entirely get away from canon since everything they do becomes canon and they have to stick to their own internal logic and consistency even if it conflicts with past Trek's canon,' I would just refer you back to the 3rd generation of Trek (2009-2027: 'Star Trek XI'-'Academy'), in which they didn't even seem to regard their own details as important to stick to!

As you can see, I view the state of 'Star Trek' as not good, to put it lightly. Since last year's examination of its state I've finished two more series' and got up to date on another: 'Discovery' Season 5 was the usual stuff, the same old flaws, the same contemporary dialogue and manner, the same empty, meaningless 'adventure' for the sake of it, with the same annoying characters. 'Lower Decks' was at least more of the reasonably entertaining, but not going to set the Trek world alight, fun, but streaming series' never seem to be made to 'bed in,' have time to become a staple of viewer's lives in the way the 2nd generation did (1987-2005: 'TNG'-'Enterprise'), when they were making 26-52 episodes a year, watching on a weekly basis as part of life, where now it's about cramming in as many different TV shows and films as possible, bingeing them to keep up with everyone else for fear of missing out. In that landscape Trek is just one tiny morsel of flavour devoured in the mad rush to get to the next thing before it's spoiled for you, and where does Trek fit in a world where people no longer make an appointment (whether that be on TV or a trip down to the video shop to get the latest VHS tape), to view, can just watch whenever they want and move on to the next empty production?

When I think of old Trek I tend to think about the homeliness of it all, Tuvok sitting at his accustomed seat in the Mess Hall, or Bashir and O'Brien playing darts at the back of Quark's bar, those bits between all the adventures that made the adventures more real, more a part of their everyday lives, and by extension, ours. Every modern Trek series has its equivalent bar or Mess Hall, but the characters are so barely developed as people and the time is so much taken up with wacky stuff that there's so little reality to modern Trek, even if it weren't trying so hard to be 'hip' or relevant. It's become a parody of itself - intentionally with 'LD,' that's the whole point, and if anything it's pulled back on that a touch to allow those characters a little more room for growth, successfully or not, but with 'SNW' it's a whole different thing: we need to bring in Scotty and Korby and Trelane and the Gorn and the Metrons and... endless rehashing, and not for the sake of being true to the history since they're so far gone from that they seem not to even try. But then it is subtly hinted it's all an alternate universe, even if they publicly appear to claim it'll all marry up in the end.

I have no anticipation for how 'SNW' will end, presumably next year unless they're desperate to drag out the little new Trek content they have in the hopes people will still care for longer. The characters from the word go were not the characters from the 1st generation (hmmm, would that be 1966-1973, or 1966-1991, or 1965-1994...?: 'TOS'-?), but completely overhauled modern people that have no connection with the mythical 23rd Century at all. They talk like us, they think like us, they act like us... even the Vulcans are barely Vulcan and it's a real travesty to see how badly such classic characters could be handled, or mishandled. Not to say I didn't enjoy any of Season 3, but not as Trek in the style of 'TOS,' merely as less dull 'SNW,' and after the low points of Season 2 it could be argued it would've been difficult to sink that low again (though they tried).

This is all before the absent film series even enters the mix: what happened? They've claimed a film here and a film there nonstop for years, I can't even remember what the latest imaginary film production was aiming to be or when it was supposed to be coming, but then TV Trek has become the same as film Trek pretty much always was: only interested in the melodrama and big, sweeping grandness of visuals and action rather than the steady learning and getting to know the people over twenty-odd episodes a season. And it really is noticeable if you do go back and watch the old stuff (especially the 2nd gen), as I've been coming to the end of 'Voyager' (again), and enjoying it.

I'd actually forgotten that it will be the 60th Anniversary of Trek in September - not so much forgotten as phasing in and out of memory like I'm stuck in the Nexus or something, the echo of me recalling that things weren't always this way. Now and again I see something with a 60th logo on it, but in the same way as at the 50th we were slightly lost in terms of the celebratory traction, only 'Beyond' there to mark anything at all, and the promise of a new series still a year away, in the inverse of the 40th when we'd just lost series Trek, but a film was on the way. It seems the 30th will be the only 'recent' anniversary to succeed at making it feel special (even the 35th in 2001 was sort of between houses, 'Voyager' having ended, 'Enterprise' just begun, but not in a position to do something special for the whole of Trek, as it were). So it's hard to believe this year we'll be as far away from the 30th as it was from the first broadcast of 'TOS,' many more actors have been lost, not to mention creatives behind the camera (but William Shatner still goes on!), and it all just goes to show how short human life is, the space of two 30-year chunks has mostly taken a man's lifetime.

Why am I meandering away from Trek itself to philosophical musings on time? Because there's not really much to say. Trek in 3rd gen hasn't quite come to a stop, but that was simply the size of the train whose brakes had been pulled, and I expect most people had abandoned ship long ago as it grinds inexorably to a halt in the middle of nowhere, forgotten in the wilderness.

As I've taken to doing, I'll rank the 3rd gen seasons in merit order, with the caveat that after the first three they're all much of a muchness and mere guesswork to say where they stand (apart from the bottom three):

- Lower Decks S2
- Picard S3
- Lower Decks S3
- Lower Decks S4
- Lower Decks S5
- Lower Decks S1
- Picard S1
- DSC S4
- Prodigy S1
- DSC S5
- DSC S3
- SNW S1
- DSC S1
- Short Treks
- SNW 3
- DSC S2
- Prodigy S2
- SNW S2
- Picard S2
- very Short Treks

As expected, 'LD' S5 was in the upper tier since I do actually enjoy seeing most of those episodes and look forward to reviewing them soon, while 'DSC' S5 was about on the same level as S3, being quite unremarkable, but I liked the Vulcan woman Saru marries and I can't really think of anything else (other than Callum Keith Rennie failing to get anything to explore a very lightly established alien race from 'DS9,' a waste of talent and potential, and of course Tilly was back...). 'Prodigy' S2 never went anywhere for me. That leaves 'Academy' as a series I really don't want to watch, other than the shameless use of Jake Sisko to make me want to see that episode so I'll probably have to buy the season (even though I suspect Picardo will be wasted). Nothing really changes in my anticipation as new Trek is so unappealing, it's just about ticking it off the list rather than enjoying, hoping there'll be at least one episode a season I get something out of:

SNW S4: *
S31: -
SFA: *
next film: **
TNG Blu-ray: ****

Last year's anticipation was:

Lower Decks S5: ***
DSC S5: **
SNW S3: *
S31: -
SFA: *

I haven't touched on the business side of things with Paramount being under new management and a merger with Warner Bros. which will both have affected Trek's future, but whether for the good or bad, who knows? One thing's for sure, we're losing the Trek, and perhaps only a want of it is our only hope - failing that, forget all that's been made in the last twenty years and get stuck in on the old stuff! I got the 'TNG' Blu-ray collection for Christmas and it got me through Season 2 where I'd been languishing for literally years, every episode an undiscovered country thanks to the sharpness and detail on display. I'd certainly consider splashing out for 'Enterprise' on Blu-ray as it makes such a difference, and I now fully understand all those who've been bemoaning the lack of 'DS9' and 'Voyager' in such form. 'TNG' (and finishing up 'Voyager'), has by far been the highlight of my Trek viewing year and that's the way it's looking likely to be for the foreseeable future, maybe even forever!