Top 8 Star Trek news stories of 2018 reviewed and updated

SAN DIEGO, CA – JULY 20: Alex Kurtzman attends the ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Press Conference and Red Carpet during Comic-Con International 2018 at Hilton Bayfront on July 20, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images)

Star Trek: Discovery showrunners out, and a new 5 year mission.

Despite being viewed my many as a huge success, and garnering five Saturn Award nominations Star Trek: Discovery had a bit of turmoil behind the scenes, with its original showrunner having previously left the series citing creative differences, they would go on to lose his replacements a short time later due to allegations that they had created and fuelled a hostile work environment.

This situation of course in some ways mirrors the early days of Star Trek: The Next Generation which itself was fraught with behind the scenes issues ranging from trouble with writers to trouble with Gene Roddenberry himself, and lead to more than one cast member looking to leave the franchise for good.

Fortunately in both cases cooler heads would come out on top, with The Next Generation likely on the shorter end of the stick with Rick Berman coming to power, and in the case of Discovery long time Trek fan, collaborator, and by all accounts good guy Alex Kurtzman would sign a 5 year deal to head up all things Star Trek for CBS.

As a part of Kurtzman’s stewartship of the Star Trek brand he was able to bring commander Riker himself back to the franchise, all be it as a director for episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, but he didn’t stop there, more of the old crew would return, but we’ll talk more about that a little later in this story.