Not much, to be honest. If we’d had
a new series, we wouldn’t have been
going back to old characters but
creating new ones, with new stories,
new adventures. Look at Star Trek
Nemesis: the negative impact of the
fi lm aff ected Enterprise and led to
franchise fatigue. Th e fi lms do more
harm than good.
BS: I think what you want and what
you need are two diff erent things. You
agree that the Star Trek franchise was
01 A bruised
andbattered
Enterprise, in
StarTrekInto
Darkness.
02 Zachary
Quintoand
ChrisPine
asSpockand
Kirk,inStar
Trek(2009).fatigued, and by not developing new
series, I believe this gave everyone
the break the franchise needed. Th ree
fi lms in 10 years is not overkill and gave
the studios time to rethink how they
needed to develop Star Trek for the fans
of today. Th at can only be a good thing,
as I believe that it’s because of those
fi lms that we have Star Trek: Discovery,
which truly delivers to fans in terms
of diversity, storytelling, action, and
adventure, while honoring where
Tr e k came from.MC:StarTrekbelongsonthesmall
screen.WhilewenowhaveDiscovery,
andsoonStarTrek:Picard, wherewould
webeif a newtelevisionshowhadaired
10 yearsago?BothDiscoveryandPicard
havecourtedcontroversy,fromthe
storylinestohowwewatchthem.Ten
yearsago,wemayhaveavoidedallthat.
PerhapsTr e kfandommighthavebeen
moreunited.A lotof “ifs,”I know,but
forme,StarTrek(2009)mayhavebeen
oneTr e ktoomanyforthefranchise.BS:YoustillhaveyourStarTrek,
Michael.Afterall,thefranchise
continuestoproducemerchandiseand
publicationsthatcatermoretothefan
of“classic”Tr e k– andyou’llsoonhave
Picardbackina newseries.Butyou
should acknowledge that you wouldn’t
have these things without Star Trek
(2009) and the other Kelvin fi lms.
Yes, they were gripping sci-fi
action fi lms, but they continued to
push the boundaries by giving fans
something new, as well as being
perfect for welcoming new fans on
board. By the franchise jumping
backwards for three fi lms, we were not
set back 10 years; we warped ahead
with better diversity and inclusivity- something I think rather fi ts Gene
Roddenberry’s vision.
02THE HOLODECK01