#star trek franchise

[ljones41]

Views on the STAR TREK Franchise

VIEWS ON THE STAR TREK FRANCHISE

The spring of 2024 saw the final season of "STAR TREK DISCOVERY", the seventh series in the TREK franchise, which began in 1966 with "STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES". This realization led me to contemplate my viewing history of the franchise and my personal opinions of those television shows that I had bothered to watch.

*"Star Trek: The Original Series" (1966-1969)

Set during the mid 23rd century, "STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES" depicted the adventures of the Starfleet ship, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) and its crew led by Captain James T. Kirk. This series lasted for three seasons and later, spawned an animated series in the 1970s and a series of movies between 1979 and 1991.

My father was a big fan of the series. I first saw it after it reached syndication. I might as well be honest. I did not like "THE ORIGINAL SERIES" when I first saw the reruns as a kid. It took the 1980s movies for me to appreciate them. Somewhat. But even after all of these years, I do not have a high opinion of them in compare to some of the other shows. And after years of watching the Trek franchise, I really wish that the franchise's creator, Gene Roddenberry, had never created this rule that humanity had evolved in a space of 200 to 300 years. I found that illogical and in the end, I believe that it proved to be a problem for all future TREK productions. Also, I was not impressed by the series' third season. I still remain unimpressed. The writing for "THE ORIGINAL SERIES" seemed to have spiraled into a decline by this last season.

*"Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987-1994)

During the 1970s, Gene Roddenberry created an animated series for the franchise called "STAR TREK: THE ANIMATED SERIES". I never saw it. But I certainly saw the second live-action series, "STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION". Airing between 1987 and 1994, this series depicted the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew aboard the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), during the mid-24th century.

"THE NEXT GENERATION" proved to be easier for me to become a regular viewer. At least for several seasons. I did not like Season One that much. I found most of the writing less than stellar. Once the series had moved past Season One, I became a deep fan. However, there were times when I found Jean-Luc Picard and his crew a little hard to swallow. Like "THE ORIGINAL SERIES", I believe "THE NEXT GENERATION" had went a bit overboard in presenting Humanity as evolved. This was especially conveyed in its portrayal of the majority of the main characters as ideal Starfleet officers. I found it a bit off putting. And I also found it difficult to keep up with the series' last two seasons. Like the first season, I was not that impressed by them. Mind you, I believe Season Seven had provided one of my favorite episodes of the entire TREK franchise - namely (7.24) "Pre-emptive Strike". However, I found many others like the Season Six episode, (6.10-6.11) "Chain of Command", vastly overrated.

*"Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993-1999)

Although familiar with both "THE ORIGINAL SERIES" and "THE NEXT GENERATION", the 1993-1999 series, "STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE", was the first I had started to view on a regular basis. At least during its first two seasons. Then I became bored with the show and stopped. Why did I become bored with "DEEP SPACE NINE", I do not know. Several years had passed before I gave it another chance and eventually viewed it on a regular basis.

Unlike the other Trek shows, "DEEP SPACE NINE" was set aboard a space station that Starfleet was managing on behalf of the recently liberated homeworld of Bajor. The station, Deep Space Nine, also stood guard to a wormhole that led to the Gamma Quadrant and an alien empire. "DEEP SPACE NINE" was the first TREK series that Gene Roddenberry played no role in its creation. And the series proved to be the first one that starred a person of color, actor Avery Brooks, as Commander-later-Captain Benjamin Sisko.

For years, I thought "DEEP SPACE NINE" had the potential to be the best within the franchise. It featured multiple-arc narratives that permeated with politics and moral ambiguity. But I had noticed a few things. One, it reminded me too much of J. Michael Straczynski's science-fiction saga, "BABYLON 5". When I heard accusations that it had plagiarized the latter show, I was inclined to believe those accusations. I still do. More importantly, I think "BABYLON 5" handled its ambiguity and multiple story arcs a lot further and with better writing than "DEEP SPACE NINE". And once the series dove into the Dominion War arc during the last two seasons, I found it increasingly difficult to stick with the series. There were aspects of that arc that I enjoyed, but there were other aspects that I found frustrating . . . including the Dominion's occupation of Deep Space Nine in early Season Six. I also felt frustrated by the transformation of the Cardassian character Gul Dukat from a multi-complex villain to a one-dimensional antagonist by late Season Six. Despite being promising and a genuinely first-rate series, I do not believe "DEEP SPACE NINE" had ever really fulfilled its potential.

*"Star Trek: Voyager" (1995-2001)

Like the previous TREK series, "STAR TREK: VOYAGER" made history with its own first. It became the franchise's first series to feature a woman as the lead character. Actress Kate Mulgrew was cast as Captain Kathryn Janeway, the commanding officer of the USS Voyager (NCC-74656). An alien named the Caretaker forced Voyager, Janeway and her crew into the Delta Quadrant, while they were searching for her Security officer, who had volunteered to act as a spy aboard a Maquis starship, commanded by a former Starfleet officer. As it turned, not only did the Caretaker draw Voyager into the Delta Quadrant, but also the Maquis crew. After a violent encounter with a race called the Kazon, the Maquis ship is destroyed and both crews merge under Janeway's command, as they set out to return to the Alpha Quadrant, some 70,000 light years away.

Unlike "THE NEXT GENERATION" or "DEEP SPACE NINE", I did not watch "VOYAGER" from the beginning. In fact, I had avoided the series like the plague for several years, due to the fandom's negative opinions of it and my own struggles to keep up with "NEXT GENERATION" and "DEEP SPACE NINE". But during the beginning of the series’ Season Five, a relative had convinced me to watch one of the series' episodes. I did . . . and became immediately hooked. While watching Season Five, I also began watching the show’s earlier seasons on Syndication. And I became even more of a fan. I can honestly say that "VOYAGER" was not the franchise's best series. But I thought it was still pretty damn good and viewed it just as good and bad as "NEXT GENERATION". Do not get me wrong. I thought "DEEP SPACE NINE" had the potential to be the franchise's best series. But I believe it had never lived up to that potential and in the end, struck me to be just as good as "NEXT GENERATION" and "VOYAGER".

"VOYAGER", like the other shows, had its share of flaws. Season One tried to portray most of its characters like those from "NEXT GENERATION". Once the series stopped trying to portray the Voyager crew like ideal Starfleet officers (aside from a few), and stamped them with their own brand of craziness and ambiguity, I managed to really enjoyed the series. I have also enjoyed the show's two-part episodes and their Holodeck/Holosuite episodes more than any other series. Aside from Season One, the only other series I am not that fond of was Season Six. That season had featured a handful of excellent episodes. But in the end, the series during its sixth season seemed to be going through the motions. Thank goodness I enjoyed the other five seasons, especially Season Seven. "VOYAGER" is the only TREK show in which I actually enjoyed the series finale.

*"Star Trek: Enterprise" (2001-2005)

Following the end of "STAR TREK VOYAGER", the TREK franchise decided to create a series that served as a prequel to "THE ORIGINAL SERIES". Set in the mid-22nd century, during the 2150s, "STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE" depicted the adventures of Captain Jonathan Archer and his crew aboard the USS Enterprise (NX-01), during the years right before the creation of the United Federation of Planets. "ENTERPRISE" proved to be the only TREK series that used a pop-influenced song as its theme.

In the end, I tried to enjoy "ENTERPRISE". I really tried to embrace this show. I had no problems with the series being a prequel to the other shows. I enjoyed the relationship between Enterprise's First Officer, Sub-CommanderT'Pol and its chief engineer Commander Charles "Trip" Tucker. I also liked the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Phlox. There were a handful of episodes that I enjoyed very much. I really enjoyed the Xindi story arc of Season Three. I just hated it ended with the ship being thrown back into Earth’s past . . . again. I loathed Season Four, but loved the Mirror Universe two-part episode, (4.18-4.19) "In a Mirror, Darkly". To this day, I regard it as one of the best TREK episodes I have seen. But overall, I never really became a fan of the series. It had failed to grab me the way the three TREK shows between 1987 and 2001 did. And when the media had announced its cancellation after four seasons, the announcement did not exactly come as a blow to me.

*"Star Trek: Discovery" (2016-2024)

Despite the negative comments I had heard about "STAR TREK DISCOVERY", I was determined to watch the show. Eleven years had passed since the cancellation of "ENTERPRISE" and my curiosity had to be appeased. Like "DEEP SPACE NINE" and "VOYAGER" before it, "DISCOVERY" made history by its casting. The series featured the second female lead. However, it also featured the first woman of color as the lead. "DISCOVERY" also made history by featuring a biracial, LGBTQ couple as part of the cast.

I watched the first season of "DISCOVERY". And I loved it. The series started out in serialized form from Day One by following the narrative formula of "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" - a multiple episodes arc within one season. Most of the characters struck me as ambiguous, including the leading lady. I also loved how that first season set up the conflict between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. I do wish that leading character Michael Burnham had served as Discovery’s commanding officer from the beginning. Instead, her rank as a Starfleet Commander underwent changes, due to her role in the Federation-Klingon War. However, if Burnham had started out as Discovery's captain, I wonder if I would have enjoyed her Season One arc as much as I did. The casting of Martin-Green as the series' star proved to be controversial on many levels. Certain fans resented her position as the show's lead. They especially resented the revelation of her character, Burnham, as Spock's adoptive sister. These fans accused the showrunner of forgetting that the half-Vulcan/half-Human officer had never mentioned an adoptive sister in previous TREK productions. Yet, they had forgotten Spock's penchant for never discussing his family, unless circumstances forced him to do so.

Despite the hullaballoo over Burnham's character and the series' serialized arc, "DISCOVERY"'s Season Two featured another season-long arc - the Federation's conflict with a a rogue artificial intelligence. Unfortunately, this season featured Captain Christopher Pike as Discovery's temporary captain and the unnecessarily long presence of Spock, thanks to some contrived writing. Although many fans and critics enjoyed Anson Mount's portrayal of Pike, I found it dull and pretentious. Pike seemed to reek of what many regarded as the traditional Star Trek leading man, but without any real spark. Matters grew worse when the showrunner made the decision to send Discovery and the series into a new direction - namely 900 years in the future. Why? I had already written about that decision in another article. Needless to say, this decision changed the series' style and tone, making it difficult for me to enjoy the rest of the show's run. I tried to stick with "DISCOVERY" during its third and fourth season . . . and gave up. The only good that came from this period was Burnham's promotion to the starship's captain.

*Other Trek Series (2020-Present)

Between the second and third seasons of "STAR TREK DISCOVERY", the franchise's showrunners released "STAR TREK: PICARD", a sequel to "STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION". Set around the beginning of the 25th century, the series focused Jean-Luc Picard dealing with his retirement from Starfleet and aging. I honestly thought this was going to be a limited series. Instead, "PICARD" lasted three seasons. Unfortunately. I enjoyed Season One, although I found the season finale badly written. I tried to give the series' second and third seasons a chance. Season Two proved to be some badly written mess involving time travel and an exploration of Picard's childhood. Season Three was more or less a convoluted nostalgia trip featuring "THE NEXT GENERATION" cast, the shapeshifting Changelings from the Dominion War and the Borg.

In 2022, the franchise released "STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS", a spin-off of "DISCOVERY". The series featured the adventures of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), while under the command of Christopher Pike. The same Pike from Season Two of "DISCOVERY". The series managed to impress a great number of Trek fans and television critics. It had failed to impress me, aside from a handful of episodes. "STRANGE NEW WORLDS" seemed nothing more than an updated version of "THE ORIGINAL SERIES", only with the very dull Pike in command. Although it has not finished its run, I gave up on the series before the first season ended.

*Conclusion

Although I had enjoyed Season One of "STAR TREK DISCOVERY" very much, a part of me wondered if it had been wise for the TREK showrunners to allow the franchise to continue. I am sorry, but I feel that aside from "DISCOVERY"'s first season, the franchise seemed like a ghost of its past. I think the franchise should have ended after the cancellation of "STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE". Or perhaps after "STAR TREK: VOYAGER" had ended its run, four years earlier. I believe author F. Scott Fitzgerald had been right when he had proclaimed in his most famous novel that one cannot repeat the past.

[a-bluedream-posts]

Seven of Nine by Zulubean

[canonqueercharacters]

The canon queer character of the day is:

Dr. Hugh Culber from Star Trek: Discovery, who is gay.

[hollywoodoutbreak]

While Jonathan Frakes was starring on Star Trek: The Next Generation, he was also doing his homework, learning the skills he'd need to become a director. That certainly paid off for him -- he started directing episodes of TNG starting in its third season, and he's now directed more than 100 episodes of television. He's also directed a handful of feature films, including the first Star Trek movie to feature the TNG crew, Star Trek: First Contact. In fact, First Contact was his first time directing for the big screen, and it was universally acclaimed as being one of the best films in the franchise. At the time of First Contact's release, Frakes spoke to us about how directing a Star Trek movie was different than directing the Star Trek television shows.

Star Trek: First Contact is currently streaming on Paramount+ and available on DVD, Blu-Ray, 4K, and most digital platforms.

[silveragelovechild]

A couple of entertainment websites I visit are calling the cancelation “Prodigy” on Paramount+ the start of demise of the Trek franchise.

I think the problem is more complicated than that.

I saw the first episode of Prodegy and except for the last minute appearance of Janeway, it didn’t look or feel like a Trek show. I never went back.

Sure I like “Rick & Morty” but do I want to see a mashup with Star Trek? Again, after one episode my answer was “No”.

Discovery? It tries so hard to be different that it’s Trek in name only. Burnham is a Mary Sue with everything centered around her (she started the Klingon war, SHE was the Red-McGuffin, etc. and by the way, the non-Captain lead character became a Captain.)

Season 1&2 of Picard had some good performance but I felt the plots were muddled. Season 3 undid the events of Season 2 to become a season long fan service and it centered on the Borg - AGAIN! There is more to Picard’s legacy than the Borg!

SNW has a good cast and a promising 1st season but so far season 2 seems to be walking back the improvements over Discovery and Picard. I hope it gets better.

https://gizmodo.com/paramount-plus-star-trek-prodigy-streaming-netflix-rant-1850578048

https://www.slashfilm.com/1323531/why-star-trek-prodigy-was-canceled/

[georgi-girl]

I’ve started a new Star Trek binge and I’m sure that if the characters were self-aware, they would resent the writers for constantly killing off their friends.

[redscrawl]

no i will not make separate blogs for my fandoms, everyone who follows me must experience ALL my insanity

[starsweater]

[anotheruserwithnoname]

A random Star Trek thought

Has anyone ever done a count of every (licensed) story set during the original Star Trek Original Series 5-year mission released over the last 57 years or so? TV, comics, novels, short stories. Assuming they used Earth calendar years and the mission lasted exactly 5 calendar years, that’s about 1,825 days (plus one or two February 29s depending where it fell among leap years). I’d be curious to see if we’ve reached the point of there being more TOS stories than there were days in the mission! (Include fanfic and we blew past that probably sometime in the 1970s). Or at least an adventure every other day (plus factor in there are some stories that take place over the course of weeks and months - I recall a short story in one of the “Star Trek: The New Voyages” books from the 1970s that took place over the course of a year!) ...

It’s one of those things that you realize with a prolific franchise like Trek. It’s not something Doctor Who has to worry about that much, or even Star Wars (thought that said there are some schools of DW thought that suggest, say, the entirety of Peri Brown’s travels with the Fifth and Sixth Doctor took place over a summer, for example, despite two years passing in real life and clearly Peri was with the Doctor more than a few months.

The nearest example that comes to mind is the series M*A*S*H which ran for 11 years - 8 more than the actual Korean War, and it never produced anything close to 1,100 episodes (the approximate length in days of the war). And even it had an episode that took place over the course of an entire calendar year.

These are the types of thoughts that occupy my mind when I’m not worried about my rent going up...

[noratheelk]

i love star trek 🏳️‍🌈

this was supposed to be a homophobic/transphobic reply to a tweet about disco winning a glaad award

but honestly? this unironically. rainbow uniforms or else

[ljones41]

Remembering "STAR TREK DISCOVERY"

Despite the negative comments I had heard about "STAR TREK DISCOVERY", I was determined to watch the show. Eleven years had passed since the cancellation of "ENTERPRISE" and my curiosity had to be appeased. Like "DEEP SPACE NINE" and "VOYAGER" before it, "DISCOVERY" made history by its casting. The series featured the second female lead. However, it also featured the first woman of color as the lead. "DISCOVERY" also made history by featuring a biracial, LGBTQ couple as part of the cast.

I watched the first season of "DISCOVERY". And I loved it. The series started out in serialized form from Day One by following the narrative formula of "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" - a multiple episodes arc within one season. Most of the characters struck me as ambiguous, including the leading lady. I also loved how that first season set up the conflict between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. I do wish that leading character Michael Burnham had served as Discovery’s commanding officer from the beginning. Instead, her rank as a Starfleet Commander underwent changes, due to her role in the Federation-Klingon War. However, if Burnham had started out as Discovery's captain, I wonder if I would have enjoyed her Season One arc as much as I did. The casting of Martin-Green as the series' star proved to be controversial on many levels. Certain fans resented her position as the show's lead. They especially resented the revelation of her character, Burnham, as Spock's adoptive sister. These fans accused the showrunner of forgetting that the half-Vulcan/half-Human officer had never mentioned an adoptive sister in previous TREK productions. Yet, they had forgotten Spock's penchant for never discussing his family, unless circumstances forced him to do so.

Despite the hullaballoo over Burnham's character and the series' serialized arc, "DISCOVERY"'s Season Two featured another season-long arc - the Federation's conflict with a a rogue artificial intelligence. Unfortunately, this season featured Captain Christopher Pike as Discovery's temporary captain and the unnecessarily long presence of Spock, thanks to some contrived writing. Although many fans and critics enjoyed Anson Mount's portrayal of Pike, I found his performance dull and pretentious. Pike seemed to reek of what many regarded as the traditional Star Trek leading man, but without any real spark. Matters grew worse when the showrunner made the decision to send Discovery and the series into a new direction - namely 900 years in the future. Why? I had already written about that decision in another post. Needless to say, this decision changed the series' style and tone, making it difficult for me to enjoy the rest of the show's run. I tried to stick with "DISCOVERY" during its third and fourth season . . . and gave up. The only good that came from this period was Burnham's promotion to captain.

[sunmoonjl]

I knew I was going to ship Kirk/Spock but I didn't know it was going to be so easy

[m0rbs]

Also wanted to share that earlier today I got the mysterious and otherworldly urge to draw them as horses. Just so you know

[msclaritea]

There's also been a shitload of Henry Winkler and The Fonz, again. This character is irrelevant to the times, not known by a majority of kids, yet it gets pushed and nauseum. Not surprising then, to find out that MKULTRA programming uses the Henry Winkler character as a TRIGGER.

Helo hogia!

A while ago we were told to look into two gay Welshmen who were helping Cunter with her con. The names we were given were Russell and Seiriol...Davies:

Most everyone loves ST but few know that it's also used as an MKUltra Programming Script. David Birkin acted in two episodes of ST:NG, ditto for Ben's first HWood breakout role...

If either of you are reading this then you can probably figure out why we're talking about you now 😏!

[m00nstorm]

Some movies and shows with gay doctors and their boyfriends (two of the ships have both couples being doctors!)

[trekfacility]

i think out of all the ships, tng's enterprise is going to forever be my favourite

im sorry but what is this gloomy gray colorless depressing ass ship

say yes to low warm lighting and comfortable chairs and soft carpets and the woman in the floor