Terry Matalas is defying a Gene Roddenberry tenant with Star Trek: Picard

 Star Trek: Picard’s Terry Matalas is defying a Gene Roddenberry tenant

Gene Roddenberry is the creator of Star Trek and so much of what he is and what he’s done in the franchise exists to this very day. His vision is still so much of the backbone of the franchise, and fans are still singing his praises nearly 60 years later.

Yet, Terry Matalas is bucking the trend and defying a Roddenberry rule from the Star Trek: The Next Generation days. Roddenberry was known for wanting to depict a utopia, where everyone got along.

Due to that, he didn’t want anyone on the crew to be involved in a conflict. As Jonathan Frakes tells Den of Geek;

"Roddenberry was, for some reason, opposed to conflict. It was a peculiar ask back in the day, but he wanted everyone to get along. Not so much with Terry. He’s really stirred the pot. Conflict, which, as we know, is an absolute necessity in drama."

Star Trek: Picard should have done more to embrace Star Trek’s original ideas

While it may seem like the obvious statement to say that the crew will have interpersonal conflicts, the show itself is continuing to move further and further away from what Roddenberry had originally wanted the franchise to be.

If it was just the conflicts, then that’s fine, but the entire show is as far from Roddenberry’s Trek as it is from anything else. It’s not a show that feels like Trek. From the way it’s shot, to the way it’s designed, to the over-reliance on special effects and the lack of set pieces. Then of course there’s the drinking, smoking, swearing, and gore.

It’s a radically different Star Trek show than there’s ever been and that’s not a good thing. It’s a reason why so few people have truly embraced it. Maybe if it was more like Roddenberry’s Trek, it would’ve gotten more than the three seasons it got. After all, you have to remember, the show was originally scripted for three, but everyone involved wanted more.

Maybe they would’ve if it was more like classic Trek.