By Joshua Tyler
| Up to date 23 seconds in the past
Star Trek has by no means been at a decrease level. The franchise’s final batch of reveals obtained nearly no rankings, and the model’s complete mismanagement grew to become so dangerous that it drove away current Trekkies whereas failing to draw any new viewers.
With no clear plan to show it round, Star Trek has been shut down. It’s executed. It’s completed. There’s nothing new in manufacturing, and there aren’t agency plans to make something extra. Paramount has torn down all its current units, and so they’re at the moment auctioning off the Discovery-verse props to the best bidders, and there aren’t many bidders.
Star Trek has been in a spot the place there’s nothing new coming earlier than; the truth is, it’s occurred twice beforehand within the franchise’s historical past. However this time it’s completely different. These earlier Star Trek darkish intervals occurred due to both Hollywood underestimating its potential or a cooling fan curiosity.
Star Trek enters this new darkish age, drowning in hatred and indifference. Trekkies are so burned they’re now completely happy to see it go, satisfied that no Star Trek in any respect is healthier than watching their favourite factor ruined over and time and again. Issues bought that dangerous. It means getting out of this mess, if Star Trek ever does, will probably be more durable than ever.
What occurred? What went unsuitable? Greater than a 12 months in the past, we tried to search out the reply, however since then, issues have gotten so, a lot worse. Our warnings weren’t heeded, and now the top occasions are right here.
To learn how Trek can get out of this darkest of all timelines, we’re going to must take some dangers. Fortunately, threat is our enterprise. What follows is the total and full historical past of how Star Trek self-destructed.
All Of This Has Occurred Earlier than
To search out the solutions we’d like, we’ll want to go to the Guardian of Eternally and peer deep into Star Trek’s previous. The 12 months is 2017. Star Trek had been off tv for 12 years. The final Trek launch, Star Trek: Past, turned out to be a box-office disappointment.
Paramount devised a daring new plan to revitalize Star Trek with a prequel collection.
Oh, wait, they’d simply executed that. The complete 2009 Star Trek film franchise was a prequel.
However that was on the large display screen; this time, it might be completely different. This time it wasn’t a film, it was a tv collection.
Oh, wait, they already did that, too. It was known as Enterprise, and Paramount pulled the plug on that present after 4 seasons.
That very current previous in some way completely forgotten, Paramount moved ahead with one other prequel, their third try in a row at making a Star Trek prequel occur. The main target of the plan was that it function a flagship present for his or her new streaming service, CBS All Entry.
Oh, wait, they’d already tried that, too. When Paramount launched its personal tv community within the Nineties, it created Star Trek: Voyager to function its flagship program. The UPN community ceased broadcasting in 2005.
Third, and I suppose additionally second, time was not the allure. These clearly silly selections started the worst chapter in Star Trek’s historical past: The Disco period.
Star Trek Enters The Disco Period With Brian Fuller
The Disco period of Star Trek didn’t really start within the period of disco, the ‘70s, it doesn’t matter what Bones’ outfit from The Movement Image might need you consider. The Disco period started with the debut of Star Trek: Discovery in 2017. It ended, spiritually not less than, with the cancellation of Starfleet Academy in 2026, a tv present broadly agreed to be one of many worst issues ever made.
Discovery was created by a person named Brian Fuller. Fuller was a widely known tv author and producer. He’d written for each Star Trek: Deep House 9 and Star Trek: Voyager within the 90s. Since then, he’d established himself as a a lot sought-after expertise, creating critically acclaimed collection like Pushing Daisies and Hannibal.
Fuller had the correct resume, and so, Paramount employed him to create a brand new Star Trek collection. His preliminary pitch was for an anthology collection, with “range” as a spotlight, and a darkish, gritty tone impressed by Sport of Thrones.
That’s proper, Brian Fuller needed to show Gene Roddenberry’s brilliant and hopeful view of the longer term into darkish, gritty, and violent Sport of Thrones.
Fuller labored on the present for 9 months. His tenure was marked by missed deadlines and ever-expanding budgets. Paramount clashed with him over his need to reboot Star Trek right into a gritty Sport of Thrones knockoff. The corporate needed its model to stay with the traditions that made Star Trek work, and Fuller needed to warp it into one thing completely completely different.
Finally, Paramount grew fed up with Fuller and fired him.
Fuller’s Ghost Pushes Star Trek: Discovery Ahead
Other than the truth that no classes had been realized from their earlier failures, Paramount had up til this level made not less than some cheap selections on this mission that, most likely by no means ought to have occurred within the first place. Hiring Fuller didn’t work out, however on paper, it ought to have. And when Fuller failed, Paramount made one other good resolution by firing him. Paramount’s good selections cease right here.
They changed Fuller with Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts. Berg & Harberts had been Fuller’s folks. They’d labored with him on previous tasks and had been already serving to him make Discovery. The concepts Fuller was implementing, the horrible concepts that bought him fired, had been additionally their concepts. In order that they stayed the course and stored engaged on their Sport of Thrones-ification of Star Trek.
Finally, Berg & Harberts had been additionally fired, amidst accusations of abuse in the direction of the present’s writers.
Alex Kurtzman Seizes Management Of Star Trek
Alex Kurtzman was put in Berg & Harbert’s place. Kurtzman was the person most liable for the worst of the current Star Trek motion pictures, Star Trek: Into Darkness. He now held the way forward for your entire franchise in his arms. He would stay in cost not simply of Discovery, however of your entire Star Trek franchise, all through the Disco period.
By then, manufacturing on Star Trek: Discovery was fairly far alongside. Kurtzman made tweaks to fulfill a few of Paramount’s issues, however a lot of what the present could be was already written in stone.
Discovery was the most costly collection Star Trek ever produced. Paramount might have trashed it and brought a tax write-off, however that’s powerful to do with a lot cash on the road. In order that they launched it.
Star Trek: Discovery Arrives On Streaming And Will get Quarantined
Star Trek: Discovery was poorly obtained by followers from the start. Critics initially praised it, however critics hardly ever watch reveals past the primary one or two episodes. They ignore it after that, which makes their critiques meaningless.
Experiences of Discovery’s rankings had been obscure and unreliable. Most indications had been that after an initially robust displaying, folks started abandoning the present.
Paramount took observe and tried making massive modifications for season 2. They introduced in Anson Mount to play Christopher Pike, and Mount was improbable.
Sadly, the remainder of the present was nonetheless the present it was all the time designed to be. Including one good character to a horrible present can’t put it aside.
Caught with a present nobody preferred, Paramount did the one factor they may do apart from cancel it: They quarantined your entire collection, separating it from the remainder of Star Trek. They did that by time-jumping Star Trek: Discovery to date into the longer term that nothing it did might have any additional influence on the franchise.
Unusual New Worlds Rights Discovery’s Wrongs
Then, they created a derivative known as Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds for Pike to rescue him from Discovery’s sinking ship. Although his new collection was technically an extension of the Disco-verse, it rapidly went to work differentiating itself from Discovery and the errors it had made. Unusual New Worlds even mounted the Klingons.
That new path ought to have been it for the Disco period. The franchise forked away from it; Paramount was engaged on different Star Trek reveals. Discovery limped onward however was quickly canceled after 5 seasons of disinterest
However as Discovery was canceled, Unusual New Worlds quickly morphed into one thing completely different.
Unusual New Worlds Turns into A Vaudeville Act For Theater Children
Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds Season 2 was a definite decline in high quality from season one. By season three, the present had change into a vaudeville act for theater children, full of musical episodes, puppet episodes, and limitless silliness, which had nothing to do with Star Trek.
Paramount lastly had sufficient. With season 3 nonetheless airing and two extra seasons accomplished and awaiting airtime, Paramount pulled the plug. The remaining two seasons would ultimately be allowed to stream as a result of they’d already been accomplished, however the units had been torn down and thrown within the trash.
Michelle Yeoh Wins An Oscar And Modifications All the things
Amidst all of this, Alex Kurtzman had been attempting to make a Star Trek: Part 31 spinoff because the first season of Discovery. His plan centered on a broadly disliked Star Trek: Discovery character, performed by actress Michelle Yeoh.
Followers hated the thought, and nobody at Paramount appeared notably enthusiastic about it. They prioritized Unusual New Worlds over it, and whereas a Part 31 collection was introduced, it by no means went into full manufacturing. Kurtzman’s final replace acknowledged clearly that Part 31 was now a really low precedence.
After which, in March of 2023, Michelle Yeoh received an Oscar.
In April of 2023, Star Trek: Part 31 went into full manufacturing as a full-length function movie. Oscar-winning tends to have that impact.
The Worst Star Trek Film
In January of 2025, Star Trek: Part 31 arrived as a direct-to-streaming film on Paramount+. It was the primary Star Trek film launched in practically a decade. It’s now the worst-reviewed film in your entire Star Trek canon, and audiences have given it an appalling 15% contemporary rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Star Trek: Part 31 begins when a spitwad flies throughout the display screen, tracing the form of the Starfleet brand. Viewers would later be taught that Spitwad is definitely the film’s hero ship, however that information doesn’t make it any higher.
The film revolves round Michelle Yeoh’s Philippa character, a lady liable for quite a few acts of genocide, and he or she’s not sorry about any of it. The film rapidly confirms her standing as a monster with a flashback, by which she exterminates her complete household for a job promotion, the place she’ll get to spend many years committing galactic massacres and torturing the person she loves for enjoyable. This murderous abomination is Philippa Georgiou, performed by Michelle Yeoh on Star Trek: Discovery.
Star Trek Endorses Genocide And Cannibalism
The film flashes ahead to a gift the place she runs a floating house bar. We’re reintroduced to her whereas the soundtrack blasts badass chick rock music to clue the viewers in on the notion that we’re purported to suppose she’s actually, actually superior, regardless of being an unapologetic slaughterer of innocents.
Then Georgiou pops a human eyeball into her mouth and savors its style because the music swells and the digicam swirls round her in adoration. Sure, Star Trek: Part 31 is promoting the thought of cannibalistic mass homicide being tremendous cool, so long as it’s executed in excessive heels. It’s your entire premise of this movie.
Hooray for house Hitler?
There are different characters in Part 31, however they’re no higher. The tremendous cool Part 31 spy staff engages in introductions by shouting at one another, making threats, and posing for the digicam. Like Georgiou, they’re additionally largely serial killers, and so they’re all fairly upset they aren’t in a position to do extra killing.
Fortunately, this mission to do a factor takes place in the very same house bar they’re already standing in. Paramount didn’t must construct every other units for his or her heist. What a financially fortuitous coincidence.
There’s a complicated fistfight in entrance of a nasty inexperienced display screen rendering of a blurry tunnel. A homicide thriller that nobody cares about. A robotic will get incapacitated by being kneed within the crotch. Star Trek: Part 31 ends when Phillipa Georgiou genocides a whole universe on suspicion of doable mischief after which tells her staff she’s going to kill them.
In case you nonetheless have doubts in regards to the high quality of Star Trek: Part 31’s writing, please take pleasure in this particular line of dialogue from the film: “She died like she lived. By that what I imply.”
Alex Kurtzman Solidifies Star Trek As A Franchise For Criminals With Starfleet Academy
Utilizing Star Trek to glorify atrocities whereas providing up a light-weight endorsement of cannibalism in a film everybody hated and nobody watched ought to have ended the profession of Alex Kurtzman and prompted a pause for self-reflection. That didn’t occur.
On the identical time, he’d been pushing for this horrible Part 31 film, Alex Kurtzman’s different pet mission was a present set at Starfleet Academy. This concept had been kicking round for a very long time as a strategy to get scorching, younger folks on display screen posing for the digicam. Clearly, it’s a horrible concept; followers by no means preferred it or needed it. Which is why it by no means occurred. With the failures stacking up, some coke fiend at Paramount mentioned, ‘Why not?’ and Kurtzman made it.
Starfleet Academy begins with a hero character who’s a felony. It’s the second NuTrek collection to be led by a felony, and the third time a Star Trek mission has been centered round a lawbreaker.
A felony previous was Michael Burnham’s introduction, too, on Star Trek: Discovery.
The 2009 Star Trek film begins with a younger James T. Kirk being arrested for stealing a automobile.
Sooner or later, all the most effective folks will probably be criminals, I suppose? No extra high-achieving, hardworking professionals. One thing to aspire to, children.
40,000 Viewers Per Episode Ends Star Trek
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy would go on to be essentially the most hated factor within the historical past of the franchise. You may suppose in any other case, since Kurtzman did handle to persuade critics to present it good critiques by stuffing each episode with woke political propaganda. Critics love that stuff and can reward it any time they see it.
Goal viewers and anybody who likes good writing hated it. The present has a few of the lowest viewers scores of any collection in historical past. Some experiences have Starfleet Academy’s viewership as little as 40,000 tune-ins per episode. For a Star Trek present. Paramount’s flagship Star Trek present.
Starfleet Academy was humiliation on an epic scale. Even though a second season had already been filmed, Paramount rapidly waved the white flag and canceled Starfleet Academy, too.
No Classes Had been Discovered
As of this second, that’s the top. The tip of Star Trek. There’s been some obscure speak from Paramount that they’re exploring concepts, however for now, they aren’t making it anymore. It’s additionally the ultimate legacy of Star Trek’s Disco period. The destruction of all the pieces Star Trek followers beloved. The destruction of a franchise 50 years within the making.
Alongside the best way, no classes had been ever realized. As an alternative, errors had been repeated over and time and again.
Did your present a couple of felony fail? Make one other one.
Did your prequel fail? Make one other one.
Did your community fail? Make one other one.
Rejecting Good Concepts Alongside The Manner
It didn’t must be this fashion. Even after Fuller’s preliminary Discovery plans failed, Paramount had methods to right course.
Creating in parallel with the Disco-verse was a Star Trek animated collection known as Decrease Decks, helmed by Rick & Morty alum Mike McMahan. The present he created was an enormous success, and it had nothing in any respect to do with the Disco-verse. Paramount rewarded McMahan’s success by canceling the present after 5 seasons and firing him.
There was additionally Star Trek: Prodigy, an animated collection for youths, which was so beloved that followers principally compelled Paramount to present it one other season with a letter-writing marketing campaign. Paramount gave in and allowed extra of the present, however solely begrudgingly. They didn’t put it on their streaming app, opting as a substitute to let Netflix have it to defer prices.
Tangential to the Disco-verse was the Picard-verse, a collection vainness mission developed round Patrick Stewart’s Captain Picard character. The present was a regular Alex Kurtzman catastrophe for 2 seasons till the third, when Paramount turned the entire thing over to veteran TV showrunner and legit Star Trek fan, Terry Matalas.
Indications are that Kurtzman wasn’t concerned in making the third season, occupied with filming his pet tasks, as a substitute. That allowed Matalas to run with it and make Picard season 3 a tribute to the factor he beloved most: Precise Star Trek.
Terry jettisoned all the pieces the collection had executed beforehand, began over, and, within the course of, delivered the most effective Star Trek season of the fashionable Trek period. Followers beloved it. Viewers scores had been by way of the roof.
Matalas lobbied to be given extra work, pitching a derivative collection known as Star Trek: Legacy. Followers launched petitions to help him, attempting to persuade Paramount at hand your entire franchise over.
However Kurtzman was nonetheless firmly in cost, and if I needed to guess, most likely jealous over the response Matalas was getting, compared to the best way folks had been deservedly shitting on him. So, he responded to that outpouring of help by firing Matalas.
Why Star Trek Failed
That’s the present state of Star Trek. It’s useless. There are two extra seasons of Unusual New Worlds within the can to launch, and perhaps Paramount may even nonetheless launch that accomplished second season of Starfleet Academy, however that’s it, and people previous few dribbles are more likely to do extra hurt than good since principally everybody hates all of it.
Okay, positive, the .001% of people who spent their adolescence as theater children might prefer it. However is that basically a demographic value pursuing? It’s like 5 folks, and 4 of them are named Skylar.
I get the impulse. The leisure business really is run by theater sorts. By actors and drama dorks who really actually had been theater children. However that’s not who their viewers is. That’s not who they’re making reveals for.
Star Trek is meant to be for individuals who like Star Trek, and as a substitute of constructing that, Paramount bought a bunch of theater children collectively and allow them to flip Star Trek into one thing for themselves. It’s next-level narcissism. Rot from the within. The antithesis of all the pieces that the leisure business is meant to be about.
Your job as a artistic is to suppose exterior your self, to suppose past you to one thing larger, better, and extra noble. What you create must be knowledgeable by your experiences, not imprisoned by them.
That’s what Star Trek is now: A jail. Let me out!
