Fans aren’t really over the moon with Star Trek: very Short Treks

Have the very Short Treks turned off Star Trek fans?

We’re not sure what fans were expecting with very Short Treks but so far the animated series, centered around several minute, non-canon adventures, has been anything but good. As of press time, there have been three episodes, “Skin a Cat”, “Holiday Party” and “Worst Contact”; and shockingly, the quality has declined with each release.

The first episode was fine, with “James Kirk” using common idioms and constantly offending various members of the U.S.S. Enterprise bridge crew in the process; all while dealing with a hostile situation. The second episode featured Spcok engaging in some grotesque and sophomoric humor, all while trying to get a laugh out of his fellow crew members. The third episode, however, was by far the worst. If Spock’s foray into humor was a toe in the water, then an episode where William Riker flees from first contact was a whale performing a canon ball into a shallow pool.

It was horrible. And fans agree. But we only have ourselves to blame.

Star Trek has lost its soul and very Short Treks proves just that

Let’s be honest, very Short Treks is an escalation of what we’ve seen in the likes of Picard and Lower Decks. The more we move away from the standard formula that Gene Roddenberry created, and the farther away we move from the ideals that the franchise was founded on, the more outlandish the creators of the franchise are willing to go.

These abominations of entertainment would never have been made had the heads of the franchise, as well as the fandom, embraced such sophomoric iterations of Star Trek as Lower Decks. The crude and rude humor, coupled with the pessimistic and nearly nihilistic views of many of the characters don’t work with Trek’s optimism.

Sure, it’s a Rick and Morty clone, and that in itself is bad enough, but the fact is that that show doesn’t capture what Trek was. Same with Picard, who used violence, drugs, alcohol, and gore to tell a story. A story that Roddenberry never would’ve allowed.

Had those shows not been made, then we wouldn’t be sitting here, wondering why the franchise has ended up here.