The streaming era of television has sucked. Let's just be real about that. It feels like you're the Genie from Aladdin; Incredible cosmic powers...itty-bitty living space. In the case of streaming, access to everything you could ever want to watch, including hit new shows. Except those shows are usually 10 episodes long. A far cry from the 20+ we were getting from broadcast television just a few years ago.
In fact, the length and reliable expectation that a new episode would be on across the fall, winter, and spring made life seem more predictable. You knew that on a specific day of the week and at a certain time, your favorite show would air. It was comforting. It was also hard to keep up with.
Appointment television, as we're calling it these days, requires you to be somewhere at a specific time on a specific date and if you missed it, you missed it. Thus making it harder to follow along with the plot from week to week. Sometimes missing just one episode could have had you last for weeks until you either got to the end of the plot line or until you saw the missing episode.
That's no longer a problem these days. You don't have to worry about missing an episode, as you can always go back and re-watch it before you watch the newest episode. It's more convenient sure, but it's less engaging. The stakes don't feel as high anymore.
Yet, there's an argument to be made that the modern era of streaming has made things easier and that's fair. As Star Trek fans, however, we never had to worry about missing an episode, thanks to the opening 'Captain's log'. Historically, just about every (if not every) episode of Star Trek would open up with the main character giving the audience a brief introduction to the story.
In less than a minute, we'd find out where the ship is going, what it's doing, and what they're worried about or expecting. It was done to allow the show to jump right into the action without a lot of exposition and time wasting. Later, it became a way to keep up with Star Trek even when you missed an episode.
The captain's log, plus the "previously on Star Trek..." would always catch a fan up if they missed a week. It helped keep fans caught up and invested, summarizing important information into delicious soundbites and helping keep fans, old and new alike, caught up with the action.
You also usually didn't need to be a returning fan to fully capture what the opening log entry was telling the audience. It was pretty succinct and all-encompassing, so if you were a new fan joining for the first time, this was a good point in the episode to start learning about the universe you're diving into without overwhelming yourself.
It's hard to say it's the most important addition to Star Trek as far as story-telling purposes go, but it's certainly among the most important and memorable aspects of the franchise.