Old Star Trek fans: don't you sometimes get happy just because there are new series?

[Skipper]

I remember the post-Enterprise dark times, when it seemed like there was no room for Star Trek in the 21st century (in fact, I think it seemed that way even DURING Enterprise). Now I feel like I'm living in a golden age.

Instead I see a lot of people criticizing: "Oh no, they made the wrong period to make the new series", "The choice of the actor who will play the fourth extra on the bridge was a disaster", "Ha ha! But have you seen how they made the new warp nacelles? Do they take us for idiots???"

I, on the other hand, am simply happy to know that every now and then I will see a new episode that will take me to the stars. But am I the only one? Too naive and not savvy enough to "really" understand what is needed in a new Star Trek series?

 

[StarCruiser]

I just don't find the new shows interesting enough for me to be willing to spend any money to watch them.

I have exactly 0 streaming subscriptions... Just don't care enough to bother.

(The broadcast premiere of Disco - sucked, the broadcast/sneak peek of Picard lost me real fast.)

 

[BillJ]

Last time I got excited about a new Trek project was, Star Trek (2009). Now? It just feels like the 1990's all over with a glut of product.

 

[FredH]

I remember the post-Enterprise dark times, when it seemed like there was no room for Star Trek in the 21st century (in fact, I think it seemed that way even DURING Enterprise). Now I feel like I'm living in a golden age.

Instead I see a lot of people criticizing: "Oh no, they made the wrong period to make the new series", "The choice of the actor who will play the fourth extra on the bridge was a disaster", "Ha ha! But have you seen how they made the new warp nacelles? Do they take us for idiots???"

I, on the other hand, am simply happy to know that every now and then I will see a new episode that will take me to the stars. But am I the only one? Too naive and not savvy enough to "really" understand what is needed in a new Star Trek series?

You are not alone.

EDIT: Heck, I remember fans cheering about ENT’s cancellation, calling it good times, because a series they considered not good enough was ending. I thought that was insanity.

 

[Orphalesion]

I only get happy when there are new Star Trek shows that interest me.
I don't watch anything just because it says "Star Trek"

So am very happy about SNW and LD, but not so much about DISC and definitely not about PIC.

I am optimistic about Academy and about that project involving Mariner's voice actress (sorry I'm really bad with names sometimes) but I will have to see them to know whether I'll be happy about them.

 

[fireproof78]

Always happy for more Trek.

 

[Lord Garth]

It depends on the series that's upcoming. I look at the series individually, not the franchise.

Discovery --> I tuned out in 1999, not 2005, so -- in 2017 -- I was looking forward to this as my first new Star Trek series I was excited about in 18 years.

Picard --> By 2019 and 2020, we were distanced enough from Nemesis that I was looking forward to seeing the 24th Century again for the first time in almost two decades. I was also looking forward to the more adult tone and going in a different direction.

Strange New Worlds --> What can I say? I don't think it's a bad series, but I said all along that I didn't want a return to the Traditional Format. And -- shock-and-awe -- turns out I wasn't lying when I said that!

Starfleet Academy --> Yes, I'll give it a shot. But, by this point, I'm not where I was at when DSC and PIC were beginning. I've had my fill. If SFA pulls me back in again, great. If not, no big deal.

That's TV. As far as the movies:

I'm looking forward to Section 31 and the Prequel Trek Movie a lot more than Star Trek 4. With the Prequel and S31, I think they're breaking with the traditional format. With ST4, I feel like I know what I'm going to get.

So, that's where I am. I'm not sick of New Trek. But I'm more selective now than I was at the beginning.

 

[USS Firefly]

Not really, I like most of the Trek books between 2001 and 2020 more than the new Trek shows

 

[Dukhat]

Last time I got excited about a new Trek project was, Star Trek (2009). Now? It just feels like the 1990's all over with a glut of product.

This, 100%. There IS such a thing as oversaturation.

 

[Lord Garth]

There's oversaturation and there isn't. Oversaturation for us. As far as John Q. Public is concerned, there hasn't been a new Star Trek project since Star Trek Beyond.

It's a little schizophrenic.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

The problem I have is that I can't separate the series mentally, and I don't want to. The way they're all connected is part of the appeal. The trouble is, different creators have different ideas about the universe and they're inevitably going to pull it in directions the older shows wouldn't go.

So now Star Trek has a mushroom dimension and a koala god, Section 31 are a family of misfits, they've retconned the Eugenics Wars, there are tentacle robots waiting to come through a portal to wipe out all life, there's an improbability dimension that makes everyone sing to spontaneously generated music, and now producers keep hinting at a bloody Doctor Who crossover, a show which is pretty much a fairy tale at this point. Oh, plus

Spoiler: Prodigy S2 + SNW s3 spoilers

there are creatures literally eating people from doomed timelines out of existence and there's the drug that changes your hairstyle.

I can handle FTL drives, aliens with bumpy foreheads, Greek gods with giant green hands, and Betazoids having telepathy across space, but the deal was that Star Trek would continually try to convince me that this was real, that there was a reasonable explanation for everything, and I don't think the new shows are living up to this arrangement. Unfortunately if the shows are connected and the new stuff isn't real then the old stuff isn't either. It's all spoiled. We put TAS in a box and marked it non-canon for a reason! (Probably the wrong reason, but it worked out).

Basically, the more Trek we get, the more absurd Trek becomes. Either because of revenge adventures on edgy crime planets where people get decapitated or because some new writers are coming into it with a 'it's all make believe, just have fun' attitude. I'd love more Trek, give me 30 eps a year forever, but I want it to feel like Trek, in its reality and its philosophy.

 

[BillJ]

Basically, the more Trek we get, the more absurd Trek becomes.

I almost feel like it is winking at me, at this point, over the absurdity of it all.

 

[fireproof78]

I feel like Trek has always been absurd, especially since TOS and TAS. Not sure when Trek became "serious business" but I feel that ignores a lot of early Trek in favor of hyper realism.

 

[Dukhat]

There's oversaturation and there isn't. Oversaturation for us. As far as John Q. Public is concerned, there hasn't been a new Star Trek project since Star Trek Beyond.

It's a little schizophrenic.

So I'm taking your post to mean that people who don't subscribe to P+, and are not Star Trek fans in general, are completely unaware that CBS's streaming service has been producing new Trek shows since 2017? I'm not quite sure I'm following that logic. The first episode of DSC was broadcast on network TV, along with advertisements that the rest of the season was on CBSAA. Plus, DVDs and Blurays have been made of all the CBSTrek shows that anyone can buy in the store or online if they don't have the streaming service. Just because someone doesn't subscribe to P+ doesn't mean they have no idea that more Trek shows exist beyond Beyond.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

I feel like Trek has always been absurd, especially since TOS and TAS. Not sure when Trek became "serious business" but I feel that ignores a lot of early Trek in favor of hyper realism.

I just said we should leave TAS in quarantine!

 

[Lord Garth]

So I'm taking your post to mean that people who don't subscribe to P+, and are not Star Trek fans in general, are completely unaware that CBS's streaming service has been producing new Trek shows since 2017? I'm not quite sure I'm following that logic. The first episode of DSC was broadcast on network TV, along with advertisements that the rest of the season was on CBSAA. Plus, DVDs and Blurays have been made of all the CBSTrek shows that anyone can buy in the store or online if they don't have the streaming service. Just because someone doesn't subscribe to P+ doesn't mean they have no idea that more Trek shows exist beyond Beyond.

You're not understanding it because you're overthinking it. Normie Across the Street might've watched TOS or TNG, and they might've seen the movies. But they don't care about Star Trek shows that aren't TOS or TNG. So they're not going to care if CBS aired Discovery. They didn't watch.

I'm sure they're aware of further shows being made, even if not by name. But they don't care about those shows any more than they cared about DS9, VOY, or ENT. They'll go watch a reboot Star Trek movie, but they're not going to get a subscription to watch "all those Star Trek shows!" They ignore them. It doesn't matter if there's one new Star Trek show or 100 new Star Trek shows. They don't care. They're not interested. So it makes no difference to them how many new Star Trek shows there are.

It makes a difference to us if there's one new Star Trek show or 100 because we'll watch or at least we'll weigh if we watch. Normie Across the Street isn't going to do that. It's "out of sight, out of mind" for Normie. As far as Normie is concerned, they think there's probably something out there, but they couldn't tell you what it is for the life of them.

 

[BillJ]

I feel like Trek has always been absurd, especially since TOS and TAS. Not sure when Trek became "serious business" but I feel that ignores a lot of early Trek in favor of hyper realism.

There was the absurd, but the universe was presented as fairly serious. Now, Trek is still absurd, but is slowly morphing into more of a comedy.

 

[fireproof78]

I just said we should leave TAS in quarantine!

No!

I hate the picking and the chosing of Trek. You can handle Greek gods but not Lucifer?

There was the absurd, but the universe was presented as fairly serious. Now, Trek is still absurd, but is slowly morphing into more of a comedy.

I always found a good mix. Some absurd, some serious.

 

[BillJ]

I always found a good mix. Some absurd, some serious.

I meant more at the same time. Trek was a fairly serious universe, where the absurd could happen. Now, Trek is more humorous where the absurd could happen.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

No!

I hate the picking and the chosing of Trek. You can handle Greek gods but not Lucifer?

They picked and chose for me. TAS was considered non-canon, I didn't have to handle Lucifer.