Although the Star Trek franchise is in a tough spot right now, its current creative stagnation could be just what the series needs to spawn a new era. The Star Trek franchise’s history is long and complex, but the series has always found a way to bounce back from adversity when a project fails to live up to expectations. The four-year gap between Star Trek: Enterprise’s finale and the 2009’s movie reboot Star Trek was its longest fallow period ever, which is a testament to the franchise’s constant self-reinvention.
Videos by ComicBook.com
That said, the current Star Trek era has ended with something of a whimper with the swift cancellation of Starfleet Academy. A mere few years after Lower Decks, Prodigy, Discovery, Picard, and Strange New Worlds were all releasing new episodes in the same calendar year, there are now currently no new Star Trek shows in production or development. Meanwhile, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s humdrum reception proves the show’s attempt at creating a YA spin on the premise of the series was a flop.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s Cancellation Could Be Good For The Franchise
The ratings weren’t there for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, resulting in the long-awaited show’s cancellation only a few weeks after its premiere. While Starfleet Academy season 2 has not yet been released, it is still clear that it’s time for the franchise to boldly go somewhere new after this setback. The Kurtzman era has become a little too formulaic, as the franchise became increasingly stuck in its own past with each new show, so this cancellation should be the wake up call that marks the end of this era.
The primary problem with Star Trek: Starfleet Academy was its indecision, as the series attempted to function both as a CW-style teen drama set in the world of Star Trek and a nostalgia fest for existing fans. While the Star Trek series focused on younger characters could have been an intriguing idea, cramming in endless easter eggs and throwbacks to earlier Star Trek shows just served to highlight how much Starfleet Academy had thrown away the appeal of The Next Generation and The Original Series in favor of focusing on the petty drama between its young heroes.
Star Trek’s Next Era Needs To Steer Clear of Nostalgia
It’s time for Star Trek to move on with new leadership, fresh ideas, and the audacity to press further into the future again. While the timeline jump into the future that was shared by both Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and Star Trek: Prodigy could theoretically make this easy, it will take a fresh visionary to make it happen. Too many recent Star Trek shows have been busy building on existing characters, storylines, and franchise lore instead of creating something wholly new and original.
It is fun to engage in nostalgic throwbacks on occasion, but the franchise’s creators should pay attention to just how little The Next Generation relied on nods to The Original Series to win over viewers. That iconic show was beloved because it had a story, characters, and an immersive world of its own. In a time when endless reboots, re-imaginings, adaptations, and legacy sequels mean audiences are starved of truly original work, the best thing Star Trek can do is offer something completely new instead of endless subversions, reinventions, and rearrangements of existing stories.
Most Viewed
-
Courtesy of Sony Pictures Animation / McDonald's -
Courtesy of TOHO Animation -
Image Courtesy of TMS Entertainment
