Star Trek: Strange New Worlds continues to show the execs how to make new Star Trek series.
Everything that Alex Kurtzman hoped that Star Trek’s Discovery and Picard would be, that never was, has become everything that Strange New Worlds is. Strange New Worlds is popular among streamers, it was a trendy show that got new subscribers to Paramount+. It introduced likable characters, with an optimistic tone, and became a universally loved series.
It’s how Trek should be, and due to its loyalty to the concept of Star Trek, it continues to be heralded for the work it’s done. The Critics Choice Association has announced nominees recently for their Critics Choice Super Awards. They’re up for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Series and Best Actor in a Science Fiction/Fantasy Series or TV Movie.
Strange New Worlds’ blazing hot first season continues, and it’s entirely likely they take home some hardware.
Star Trek is Star Trek, and there aren’t multiple (successful) versions
I saw it all the time, there’s only one way to create a successful Star Trek series, and that’s by making it a Trek series. There are hallmark ideas and concepts that define Trek as it is. Too often under Alex Kurtzman, the series has been butchered and augmented time and time again to middling results.
The design of the show changed. The show was grittier, edgier, and more “grimdark”. It became a series trying to be “serious” instead of “Star Trek”. It was trying to show the world it could be some monumental tale, like “Logan” but no one wanted to see Trek pretend to be a mediocre comic book movie.
They wanted it to be Trek.
Strange New Worlds brought back that very same idea to the franchise, making a show that was inherently Trek. Sure the design was still different but everything else was the same. It was optimistic, hopeful, and reverent.
Some people think that not all of Star Trek is intended for all viewers, but that’s simply not true. Every series that Trek produces should be for all viewers. Otherwise, it’s not Trek. If you’re making a show that deliberately alienates a huge portion of your viewers, you’ve done something wrong.
If you want to make a Star Trek show devoid of the staples that make Trek what it is, go ahead, just call it something else. You’ll probably find more people willing to give a new IP a try, as opposed to expecting fans to give your show, which only furthers watering down what Trek used to be.