Star Trek is 60. It’s time to boldly go somewhere new

Star Trek recently turned 60. Happy birthday! It’s a decent achievement for a show that originally only lasted three seasons (and the last season wasn’t all that great).

I’ve watched Star Trek all my life. It’s older than me, but when I was a kid, my dad had them all on VHS. Some got a bit daft, like when some god-like dwarves took control of the crew, or when someone stole Spock’s brain, but episodes like The City on the Edge of Forever or Mirror Mirror remain genuinely great science fiction.

What I really enjoy is the idea of a professional, diverse crew exploring space and having fights, adventures, interesting science fiction ideas, and the occasional moral dilemmas.

Although there has been some progress and change, it does feel like, since around the millennium, the franchise hasn’t wanted to boldly go anywhere new.

When Star Trek moved forward and changed

When The Next Generation appeared, it was a pretty brave move. I remember going to a Star Trek convention when I was around 15 (I was still cool) and they played the first couple of episodes of TNG. People were a bit iffy about it. And to be fair, the first season was a bit hit and miss.

But it soon hit its stride and became one of the greatest Star Trek series ever. It also showed that you don’t need Kirk, Spock, or even the original Enterprise, to succeed. I love TNG.

Deep Space Nine mixed it up a bit. Like TNG, it took a while to get into, but that was mostly due to it all being in the same place. Again, it took a series or two, but by the time the Defiant and Worf arrived, it got great.

This was partly because they tried an over-arching story for the first time with the Dominion War, and it worked really well. (I’m not counting the bookending Q stuff of TNG.) It also got a bit darker than previous series and explored politics and war. It had a great crew and decent sci-fi ideas too.

The timeline jumped forward again with Voyager, which I found a bit uneven. It had some genuinely superb episodes, such as those with the Borg and Species 8472. But they also had episodes like where Janeway and Paris evolve into lizards, have sex, then spawn baby lizards, then devolve again. Yes, that’s a spoiler – so avoid that episode. (You’ll thank me.)

As for the crew – Janeway, Chakotay, and Tuvok were great. The others were ok. But early Paris and Torres were like angry teenagers and generally annoyed me. They grew up a bit later though, and were ok. Still, it was a mixed bag.

Then Trek treaded water for a bit

I actually quite liked Enterprise, although I have a thing for attractive Vulcans so might be biased. I hated the intro, but the crew and show were generally pretty decent.

The problem was that I didn’t really want a prequel. We had been moving forward up until then, and I wanted to see the Federation deal with new threats and have the odd old character have a cameo.

The Kelvin timelines were fun, although they messed with everything too much to the point it was daft. Super blood and inter-system beaming, and so on. And again – it was still Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise.

Then there was the excitement of the ‘reimagining’ thanks to Discovery. I didn’t actually mind Klingons changing, as it had happeded before when it wasn’t being reimagined. It just kind of happened and no one said anything until the awesome DS9 Tribble crossover episode and Worf says not to talk about it.

Discovery was ok, but I never fully clicked with it. Michael Burnham was simultaneously over emotional and yet extraordinarily brilliant at everything. And obviously, it was also a prequel to the original series. At least at first.

I liked, and am still enjoying, Strange New Worlds. Despite it being yet another prequel and having a main character who we know is destined for a shit time. It is fun, episodic, and full of the sort of adventures that drew me to Star Trek in the first place.

Things move forward, but everything seems a bit jumbled

Lower Decks and Prodigy move the timeline forward, but they are animated and I never got round to watching the latter. Lower Decks was a lot of fun. But I don’t want future Trek to be all animated. Picard started a bit shakily (which is almost a tradition by now) but fans were generally happier with the final season.

I saw the first couple of episodes of Starfleet Academy on a plane trip, and that was a forward jump and had a new cast. I will watch more, as history has taught me not to judge new Trek by the opening episodes. (I also wrote previously about why I wasn’t all when it was announced – you can read here – so maybe I was biased going in.)

A big negative was that the main character reminded me of why I didn’t like Tom Paris – when people in Star Trek rebel against authority they do it the same way as an angry teen would. At least, to be fair, the main guy actually was a teen. Hopefully, like Paris, he’ll grow up a bit.

We’ll see, but so far I haven’t clicked. Plus it has been cancelled already.

So the powers that be are finally moving things forward, they just haven’t hit the right formula.

What I actually want from Star Trek

You can probably guess that I don’t want anything more to do with Kirk or Picard era Star Trek. Much though I loved them. I don’t even need more Enterprise.

Set it around the same time as Academy. But have a ship and professional crew of Starfleet officers heading off into space. Maybe on a five year mission.

Let them have adventures on strange new planets and battle weird new adversaries. Have them engage in battles, but also deal with some sci-fi concepts and philosophy. Some episodes can be fun, some gritty. There can be an overarching story, (which doesn’t have to galaxy ending,) but can also be episodic.

Although it was officially a comedy, the Orville pretty much filled the space a lot of Star Trek fans wanted filled. I loved it, and it is kind of ironic that what’s essentially a Star Trek homage scratched a Star Trek itch better than the official productions.

Happy 60th Star Trek!

I feel like I am celebrating Star Trek 60 with a bit of a whingeing rant. But it is only because I care. I appreciate they tried to experiment and modernise, but I was happy with TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager, and even Enterprise. Just carry on with that vibe in the Star Trek Academy timeline and I’ll be happy.

This is just my opinion, obviously, but I don’t think I’m alone.

Now… make it so.