A Brief History of The Final Frontier
Star Trek is a global cultural phenomenon. Whether a fan or not, you simply can not deny its impact since the broadcast premiere of The Man Trap on September 8, 1966. Terms such as “warp speed,” “tractor beam” and “cascade failure” may not have originated on the show, but they entered the popular vernacular due to Star Trek, not to mention “Klingon” and “Spock.” Scientists, engineers and astronauts have been inspired by the show and NASA even christened a space shuttle “Enterprise” in honor of the show’s famous starship after a fan letter writing campaign aimed at President Gerald Ford.
This was hardly the first letter writing campaign in the show’s history. In danger of being cancelled after its second season, fans of the original Star Trek (now often called The Original Series), launched a massive letter writing campaign which famously saved the show and led to a third season. This not only made waves in the world of corporate media but galvanized the fans into a new breed of rabid pop-culture enthusiasts. Although science fiction conventions had been around since at least the 1930s and fan clubs even longer, the 1972 Star Trek Lives! convention launched the modern pop culture convention era. Both fan-fiction and cosplay were popularized by Star Trek fans as well.
The dedicated fan base only grew as re-runs of the show entered syndication, which in turn launched efforts to return the series to production. And these efforts succeeded. First, the original crew (and much of the original cast) returned to television in 1973 as a Saturday morning cartoon (Star Trek: The Animated Series). Then came real movement towards a return of the series which eventually transformed to 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture. A slew of successful sequels followed and Star Trek finally returned to television in 1987 with Star Trek: The Next Generation. The franchise continued to grow with Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise as well as a total of five sequels to The Motion Picture and an additional four films based on The Next Generation, the last of which premiered in 2002. The last episode of Enterprise, the sixth broadcast series, aired in 2005. Although books, comics and video games continued to be produced, the Star Trek franchise did not produce any new film or television until a new movie series in 2009 which featured new (younger) actors playing the familiar characters. This, essentially, was a reboot of Star Trek. It was not the original series but was firmly established as an alternate timeline (dubbed by fans the Kelvinverse).
With the launch of Paramount’s new streaming service Star Trek would return to the episodic series format, although no longer on free, broadcast television. It was announced the new series, Discovery, would take place before the Original Series, but in the same universe and timeline. Soon, two new animated series, and two additional live action shows and a handful of shorts joined Discovery, all streaming on the Paramount pay service (although one of the animated series also ran on the cable network Nickelodeon).
Trekkies, Trekkers, Whatever: Star Trek’s Very Special Fans
Star Trek is hardly the oldest science fiction franchise (not even the oldest science fiction TV franchise still running… Doctor Who and the Ultra Series both pre-date it) nor is it the most prolific (the Ultra Series has produced more television series and more films). It is not even the only science fiction property to take on the day’s social issues. Nonetheless, Star Trek is arguably the most influential science fiction franchise of all time.
There are literally books and documentaries about the history of Star Trek, its cultural influence and its production. Creator Gene Roddenberry, his production crew and the original cast came together to create a franchise which has lasted almost sixty years. I do not wish to denigrate or cheapen these efforts in any way, nor do I want to enter into the fray and opine on who deserves credit for various aspects of the show and/or what made Star Trek unique. I want to focus on a huge aspect of Star Trek’s success and influence: the fans.
All television (really all media) relies on creating and retaining fans. For television shows bigger audiences mean higher ratings, higher ad revenues and and better chance of renewal. Star Trek has a very special and dedicated fan base. As I already mentioned, the show was actually saved from cancellation after a fan letter writing campaign in the late 1960s and later Star Trek fans were able to get a space shuttle named after the USS Enterprise. During the original run of the series there was such a demand for photographs, scripts and souvenirs a dedicated mail order company had to be created! In 1972 the first Star Trek focused convention was held in New York. 3,000 fans, at least five or six times the number organizers hoped for, attended causing the event to attract national attention.
Called Trekkies (often derisively) or Trekkers, Star Trek fans gained a reputation for their devotion to the show and often encyclopedic knowledge of the episodes. Thanks to daily syndication in many markets, fans were able to rewatch the entire series as many as three times a year, year after year. Many viewers did just that, making Star Trek a regular part of their days. It was entirely possible that many of those first convention attendees had seen their favorite episodes a half a dozen times. This was a relatively new phenomenon in the age before home video!
However, it went beyond simply knowing the show backwards and forwards. Fans made their own costumes, wrote their own stories and even filmed their own episodes! After the movies created an actual Klingon language, complete with a dictionary, many fans took up the study of Klingonaase. Non-Star Trek books have been translated into the Klingon language, the language teaching app DuoLingo offers it as an option and the Guinness World Records commission recognized Klingonaase as the world’s most popular fictitious language with more speakers than even Esperanto, the language created to be a universal tongue and enable international cooperation almost one hundred years earlier.
Star Trek and Me
I recently turned 51, so I was born a few months after that first convention, about three years after The Original Series was cancelled and about one year before Star Trek returned in the form of The Animated Series. I vividly remember The Animated Series reruns on Saturday mornings when I was a kid and then, just a couple hours later, The Original Series reruns on Saturday afternoon. Although Star Trek was regularly on in my house when I was a kid, it definitely got skipped over if there was a baseball or interesting college football game on! I honestly do not remember the Mego Star Trek toys. I do remember having a kite with the USS Enterprise (animated version) hanging in my room when I was about six and I know I had Star Trek Viewmaster reels from both live action and animated episodes. Still, I can’t say I was a huge Star Trek fan when I was very small.
By the time I was in second grade my parents had a problem: I read at a high school level. That does not sound like a problem, but it was. Although I read with the comprehension of a high school student I was still only seven years old. Books which were appropriate for my age level were ridiculously easy for me to read and books which were appropriate for my reading skills were full of language and concepts which were simply not rated PG (much less G). The local librarian provided the answer when she asked me one day if I liked Star Trek. The library had all twelve of the books collecting Star Trek episodes. Written by James Blish, each of these paperbacks featured several episodes in the form of short stories. They were written for adults, the librarian reasoned, but based on a show suitable for prime time network television.
These books were perfect! Today they seem like strange digest versions of the television episodes… which is essentially what they were. Again, this was an era without home video. For a seven year old with an overblown vocabulary they were perfect. The James Blish Star Trek episode collections led me to the Bantam paperbacks, as well as novelizations of Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars. By the time Star Trek: The Motion Picture came out in late 1979 I was a major fan. Over forty years later I still remember the day my mother took my little brother and I to see The Motion Picture. I can tell you which McDonald’s we went to beforehand to feast on Star Trek themed Happy Meals and the movie theater we chose. I also know for a fact I waited to read the novelization of the film until after I saw the movie. It also probably goes without saying but over forty years later and I am still a fan.
To be honest, I do not consider myself any kind of Star Trek super fan. Sure, I own all of the movies on blu-ray… as well as The Original and Animated Series and at least one season of Enterprise. I will also admit to two shelves crammed full of Star Trek books (both fiction and non-fiction). I own a pretty good amount of Star Trek comics, mainly in digital form thanks to a DVD-Rom which came out a few years ago collecting every Star Trek comic book up to its production. Oh yeah, I also have an unknown number of Star Trek ebooks… but that is because publishers Simon and Schuster offer 99¢ ebooks every month (you can find those each month here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/p/star-trek-ebook-deals). And even though I really do not consider myself a Star Trek super fan I must admit I have seen every single episode and film. In fact, during the first year of Discovery I rewatched every episode and film in the order they were released. (In my own defense let me say I travel a great deal… and I was also very interested in the evolution of a fictional universe with many contributors as a kind of academic exercise. Taking on Star Trek was easier than trying to reading 80 years of DC comics or tracking down all the Perry Rhodan books!)
Okay, stop yelling! Many of you have read all that and are almost screaming at me: “You really don’t think you are a super fan? Did you hear what you just said?” I get where you might look at the last paragraph and want to brand me with a big ol’ TREKKIE SUPERFAN stamp across the forehead. I completely understand but I would argue there are really much more dedicated Star Trek fans than yours truly! I am an unapologetic Star Trek fan but I pale in comparison to many fans! I don’t cosplay, I don’t memorize trivia and I don’t even speak Klingon.
Paramount Plus And “New Trek”
Five or six years ago, after a series of successful Star Trek reboot films set in an alternate timeline (thereby preserving the canon of the pre-reboot series and films) Paramount announced they were producing a new Star Trek television series. It would only be available on their streaming platform, which is currently called Paramount+ (I think it was called CBS All Access at the time). It really should not come as any surprise, but I purchased an annual subscription. Star Trek: Discovery premiered in 2017, followed by the animated parody series Lower Decks, a few shorts, the live action Picard and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds as well as Prodigy, a second animated series aimed at younger viewers. It ran on the Nickelodeon cable network instead of exclusively on the Paramount streaming service as all the other “New Trek” shows did. Recently, by the way, Paramount announced Prodigy has been cancelled.
When Discovery was announced, it was stated it would be the first of several new Star Trek properties offered on the Paramount streaming platform. Bryan Fuller, the show runner, also stated the show would be set about a decade before The Original Series in the regular Star Trek universe, unlike the reboot films (https://www.simonandschuster.com/p/star-trek-ebook-dealshttps://ew.com/article/2016/08/10/star-trek-tv-series/). At this time it was also teased the main character would be female, would not be a captain and would represent some “level of diversity.” Fuller also stated Discovery would explore something mentioned in Star Trek but never truly explained or explored.
By the time Discovery was set to premiere it was known Sonequa Martin-Green, recently of The Walking Dead, would star and her captain would be played by international superstar Michelle Yeoh. Although I was cooling on The Walking Dead by then, I was a fan of Sonequa Martin-Green and I have been a Michelle Yeoh fan since I saw Supercop and Heroic Trio at the midnight Chinese language movies they used to run in St. Louis back in the early 1990s.
I had high hopes for a show which would fill in some of the backstory of Star Fleet and the Federation in the years between Enterprise and The Original Series. At the same time, I was nervous. Why? Those damn reboot films! I approached the first warily, but in the first few minutes it established its narrative would be in a different timeline (the so-called Kelvinverse). Perfect! Now they could tell the story of early careers of my favorite characters without erasing the “established history,” or canon, established by the franchise up to that point. I loved that first reboot film up until the last five or ten minutes.
The first reboot movie ruined itself at the end when James T. Kirk, recently thrown out of Star Fleet Academy saved the day and was recognized as a hero. So far so good. He was NOT rewarded with a re-admission to the Academy so he could finish his education and start his career. This film ended with a promotion straight to Captain, skipping at least four ranks, AND command of the Enterprise (the de facto flagship of Starfleet)! That did not make sense and it kind of erased the goal of telling the story of the beloved characters before they were assigned to the Enterprise because now everyone was assigned to the ship (and they were all basically the same age). Was Starfleet run by idiots or was it just the writers and producers? In all fairness there were probably huge studio pressures to “get to the Star Trek crew everyone loves” so I really can not say who is to blame… but the end result was something I really did not enjoy.
So I had mixed feelings but high hopes when Discovery premiered. I was relieved to find it was a very well written and compelling show but overall I was pretty much immediately disappointed. Before I talk about the highs and lows of the Paramount+ New Trek offerings, let me just say from here on the discussion can not continue without spoilers of Discovery, Strange New Worlds, Picard and maybe even Lower Decks and the so-called “Relaunch” novels…. You have been warned.
Those F’ing Klingons! The Highs and Lows of New Trek
After only a few episodes of Star Trek: Discovery I could sum up all the strengths and weaknesses which have run through not only Discovery but almost all of the New Trek series to follow. The cast was excellent. The characters were compelling and interesting. Episode by episode, the show was well written. Taken on its own Discovery makes you want to come back every week. In the larger context of Star Trek, though, it is kind of a confusing mess. First of all, the main character is a human raised on Vulcan by Vulcans which is a really interesting concept. However she is the adopted sister of Spock… something he had never mentioned over the course of The Original Series, The Animated Series, six movies and various guest spots on other Trek shows, often focusing on his family. She was not even mentioned in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier when it was revealed Spock had a renegade Vulcan half brother named Sybok! It is that last bit which was key to me because with Star Trek V in mind Discovery’s choice to make Michael Burnham Spock’s unknown adopted human sister did not feel brave or surprising but a bit hackneyed. The story of Spock and his family, particularly his relationship with his father, had stretched beyond The Original Series into The Next Generation and into the films. In Star Trek V the revelation Sybok was Spock’s older half-brother could not save an otherwise bad film. In Discovery the revelation Burnham was raised by Sarek and Amanda just seemed like a retread of a previous idea.
Worse yet, Discovery changed the Klingons again and completely without explanation. The Klingons, of course, had a rather famous and massive re-design in The Motion Picture. Why did the Klingons of The Original Series look so different than their movie counterparts? An explanation was something avoided by the franchise for years. In fact, Deep Space Nine famously made fun of the issue when Worf and other crew from the show traveled back in time to participate in the events of the Original Series episode “The Trouble With Tribbles” (which featured the modern actors digitally inserted into several vintage scenes). When the DS9 crew see the Original Series style Klingons Worf simply says “It is something we do not discuss.” In fact, the show made things even worse by bringing back several prominent Klingons from The Original Series played by the original actors but now in the modern style Klingon makeup. Eventually, the mysteries of the Klingons’ appearance were settled in Enterprise (after a rather valiant attempt in FASA’s role playing game) but the truth was Star Trek: The Motion Picture had a movie budget not a weekly television budget. They could make Klingons much more visually impressive so they did. The entire point of The Motion Picture is pretty much to say “Look! Look! See the cool stuff we can do with modern special effects and piles of cash?” That is why the big heroic musical fanfare is not for the entry of any character (not even Admiral Kirk) but reserved for when Kirk and Scotty swing the shuttle around the shipyards and see the newly refitted Enterprise in all of her glory. (And I tear up every time… and I still do not consider myself a superfan!)
Keeping this leeway in mind, I did not mind when the Star Fleet technology of Discovery featured cool holographic displays and slick uniforms instead of randomly flashing lights on silver painted plywood and long sleeved t-shirts despite the fact it was supposed to be a decade before The Original Series. Honestly, it might have been cool to use modern effects technology to create a retro-science fiction look for Discovery but it was not the direction the producers went. However, why change the Klingons? They were entirely alien to both the swarthy actors in dark makeup of The Original Series and the long haired, bone crested warriors of the films and subsequent series. They also seemed to have a slightly different culture. This certainly suggested Discovery was in a different timeline or reality than other Star Trek shows but the producers had flatly stated this was not the case. Why create this issue again? Why were the producers of Discovery blatantly ignoring the history of the franchise?
The problem got worse as new shows were added. Strange New Worlds follows the crew of the Enterprise under Captain Pike, the man who commanded the ship before James T. Kirk. This was the crew famously featured in the original pilot for Star Trek (parts of which were later used in the episode The Menagerie, which also showed Pike being crippled in a recent accident). Spock and first officer Number One, both featured in the original pilot, are characters in Strange New Worlds but so are Nurse Chapel and Uhura from The Original Series even though there was no reference to either of them serving under Pike. That is an annoying but could probably be overlooked if it were the only time the show felt the need to ignore the Star Trek canon. Of course, it was not!
In The Original Series when it is revealed Spock must return to Vulcan for his wedding everyone is surprised and he states he has not seen his fiancé since they were children. However, his fiancé has made several appearances on Strange New Worlds and both Uhura and Chapel are aware of her. In The Original Series Nurse Chapel has an unrequited love for Spock which he, living under Vulcan disciplines, can never return. In Strange New Worlds, despite the fact he is engaged and everyone knows it, Chapel and Spock are dating. Also in The Original Series episode “The Arena” the Gorn are a mysterious race no one in the Federation has ever seen. They turn out to be thickly built humanoid reptiles… but in Strange New Worlds the Enterprise crew (including a young James T. Kirk who happens to be working with then) have all fought the Gorn. Except these Gorn are reptilian version of the xenomorph from Aliens who like to lay eggs in people so their young can eat their way out. That, by the way, makes them very similar to the Magog from Andromeda, a show created by Gene Roddenberry but not produced until after his death.
I understand wanting to pit Star Fleet against a much more bestial and scary alien adversary but why change an alien race already established in the show? Just create a new type of alien! Or maybe, as a wink to Roddenberry’s other work, call them the Magog? Why set up yet another conflict with the events as they transpire in The Original Series? Since I mentioned Andromeda I should probably mention its premise, a man from the past who sets out to rebuild a once mighty and benevolent league of planets, also becomes the premise of the later seasons of Discovery!
People have suggested anyone who has problems with New Trek are simply too old and/or conservative for the progressive storylines. I think that probably needs to be addressed. I am old (getting older every day as it turns out) and have been a Star Trek fan for a very long time. I am well aware of its progressive ideals and accomplishments. I think the relationship between Stamets and Dr. Culber (both males) is probably the strongest and best written love story in all of Star Trek (sorry Riker, Troi, Paris and Torres). I will admit to being extremely uncomfortable, though, when Stacey Abrams made a cameo as the president of Earth. I could care less about her politics; it was the fact she is still an active politician which bothered me. I believe she was actually running for the Georgia governorship at the time of her appearance. It struck me the wrong way. I would have no problem with Michelle Obama, for example, appearing as Earth’s president because she was not actively running for office. Including a politician seeking office does not sit well with me but that on its own would not have turned me against Discovery or New Trek in general.
It Comes Down To Canon
When the producers of the current Star Trek series ignore the history of the story as established in the franchise, the canon, of Star Trek I feel like they do not respect the series or me as a fan. Star Trek has always enjoyed a very committed fan base and, in fact, it is only still a viable franchise in 2023 because of those very active and dedicated fans. I do not believe producers or writers need to bend to the general will of fans (fan service is a problem in itself in both science fiction/fantasy in general and in Star Trek) but I do believe fans should be respected. One of the ways a franchise can show respect is to honor the long and established history of the franchise. After all, the existing properties in a franchise are what created the fans in the first place. This seems especially prudent when your fan base is known its devotion to the minutiae of the franchise!
To be fair, canon does not have to be absolute. In Star Trek, for example, there is the Kelvinverse created by the reboot films. Long before it, though, there were already Star Trek properties, such as novels and comic books, creating their own parallel canon to the series. By the way, I think the so-called “relaunch novels,” which follow Picard and the Enterprise after the events of the movie Star Trek: Nemesis are markedly better than the New Trek series Picard. While Picard continues to ignore canon (Jean Luc appeared to completely forget during an extended series of flashbacks about his childhood that he was not an only child and why didn’t anyone ask Worf about Alexander when the crew was talking about their children? And don’t get me started on Lal and Data’s Daughter…) the books not only respected what was established in the television series but built upon it. Also, I feel the books introduced more interesting characters such as T’Ryssa Chen, a half human, half Vulcan who chooses to live as a human.
Other franchises have approached canon in different ways. Comic books have some of the longest histories in science fiction and fantasy, for example, and some interesting approaches to canon. DC Comics basically reboots its story universe every few years, which is why Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent are still relatively young men even though Batman and Superman have been around for over eight decades. Although the core concepts behind characters remain, the story universe is basically refreshed and older storylines often become official variants in the DC multi-verse (although sometimes they go crazy and erase the multi-verses, too!). Japan’s Ultra series tends to take the multiverse approach, too. Some shows (Ultraman, Ultraseven and Return of Ultraman for example) are connected while others are not. Some shows are direct sequels to others while others are independent from the rest. Leiji Matsumoto, the Japanese manga writer and artist, has taken a very different approach to canon with his space pirate character Captain Harlock. The character is consistent but his history and the universe he inhabits change from project to project. In some Earth has been conquered by hostile aliens and Harlock is the last free Earth spaceship captain while in other stories Earth is the hostile oppressor and Harlock is a rebel fighting for freedom. Matsumoto has basically said it is his character and he will do what he wants to tell the story he wants!
Star Trek told its fans the new shows would be part of the regular, established Star Trek universe and timeline and then has ignored the canon of that established universe and timeline. This is the stuff of sub-par comic books and soap opera at best. Given Star Trek’s dedicated fan base, ignoring canon seems almost offensive. It is almost as if the producers of New Trek are saying “Come spend a bunch of money to watch new Star Trek shows because you watch the other shows every night in re-runs and we know you love Star Trek… But if all those shows you have been watching in syndication, on H&I or on BBC America get in the way of what we are doing or make our job as writers a little harder then we will just ignore them!” You can not have it both ways! Ironically, the New Trek show with the most references to (and maybe even the most respect for) the history of Star Trek is the animated parody series Star Trek: Lower Decks.
Towards The Future
Soon Star Trek will reach its sixtieth anniversary. Fans new and old will celebrate the long history of the show and the rich collection of stories and characters Star Trek has given its viewers. This will only shine a light on the issues of the newer Star Trek offerings and the current producers’ decisions to simply cast aside the complex and beloved story created over the last six decades whenever it suits them. If Star Trek is going to remain a successful franchise long enough to reach its seventy-fifth anniversary and beyond it will need to stay true to its roots and what has made the franchise so popular for the last sixty years.