A few days ago, Paramount once again yanked the classic Star Trek films from Pararmount+ with no warning or explanation given. It is the umpteenth time that Paramount has made the bone-headed decision to break up the Star Trek collection; arguably one of the core selling points aside from the NFL, for fans to invest in Paramount+.
The removal has once again been met with groans from the fandom, who recognize this as a serious mismanagement of the Star Trek intellectual property (IP). It's also just another moment in time that fans can look to, put a pin on, and cite as a reason why they're losing faith in Paramount. With pending new ownership coming in, the hope is that the Skydance crew can stabilize the brand and get things back on course, but there is concern that there is no more goodwill left for the Paramount brand by the Star Trek faithful.
Made even more maddening is the fact that we still have no movement on a fourth Kelvin film. This is odd, as the Star Trek movies they kept leaving on Paramount are the three Kelvin timeline films; Star Trek 2009, Into Darkness, and Beyond.
Despite the fact that there is clearly a reason those three films are constantly retained each time the licensing issues pop up, we still have no news on the fourth and potentially final film in that franchise. It's caused fans to doubt the brand and, seemingly, for good reason. They had no problem rushing Star Trek: Section 31 into development, making a film that could be nothing but schlock, all for their failing streaming service.
Yet a film that a majority of the fanbase wants? Still, nothing. In fact, the only news involving the film or crew to any real degree is that of Chris Pine. The lead actor is embroiled in a lawsuit involving trees and boundary lines. That's it. Of all the things we're hearing about the films, it's stuff like that.
Nothing actually about the films.
You'd think Paramount would want to make sure Star Trek fans are taken care of, especially with the long delay in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' 3 seasons and the cancelation of several shows. The least they could do, if not announce a fourth film, is to leave the films alone on their service so we could easily engage in some of the best aspects of the franchise.
Yet, they won't or can't and now fans who pay for Paramount+ will suffer prolonged stretches of whiplash as they try and figure out where they can watch their favorite parts of Star Trek; if they can at all.