Paramount's views on Star Trek: Picard should have everyone worried

Not every new Star Trek series has been for everyone. Most certainly not Star Trek's Discovery, Picard and Lower Decks. It's not surprising, those were the three first shows of the Nu Trek era. It appears as if the franchise has corrected itself some with Prodigy and Strange New Worlds, but even those series have its detractors. That's ok. Not every show is for every person, but every Star Trek show should be "Star Treky".

Except, when they're not. Did you feel that Picard wasn't Star Trek enough? Well, that was by design. Apparently there was a push to make the second season, and presumably, the first season, less Star Trek by default. While Picard star Patrick Stewart shares a lot of the blame for how those early seasons came out; the biggest complaints were his requests (no ship, no uniform, no TNG cast members, etc), but the real issues weren't on him or the showrunners.

The real issues came from the people who signed the checks. According to the third showrunner that the series had, Terry Matalas, the push for the second season to be as un-Trek as it was from on high. Speaking on a Master Replicas Collectors Club Zoom chat (via TrekMovie.com), Matalas revealed that the earlier direction for season two was "shot down" for being "too Star Trek".

With the series head going on to say;

“We wrote nine episodes at one point and the network was like, ‘No, we don’t really understand this, it’s a bit too sci-fi, it’s a bit too in-Star Trek.’”

Now, Matalas goes on to further explain what ideas he had for the season, and they weren't good (more on that later), but it does go to show you the level of meddling that Paramount+ has had with Star Trek. It's also part of the reason why the first three shows that Paramount+ pumped out felt unlike Star Trek.

Because that was the point. Paramount Global and its streaming service have lost the plot as to why fans like Star Trek, and while Strange New Worlds has been the most acclaimed by fans so far, for how long? How long until they decide it needs to be more like Star Wars instead of Star Trek?

Clearly Trek isn't safe in the hands of Paramount Global, and that should worry fans.