Star Trek bosses keep churning out prequels. Why another one now? Producers dream up Year 1 as the next big thing. Paul Wesley steps in as Captain Kirk for his first year at the helm of the Enterprise. The show slides right after Strange New Worlds wraps up. They plan to track the crew switch from Captain Pike to Kirk. Ethan Peck comes back as Spock. Holdovers from Strange New Worlds likely stick around. Studios love the cheap angle. They recycle the same Enterprise sets still standing after back-to-back shoots for seasons four and five. Season four hits screens later this year. Season five wraps it as the last one. Why spend big when old sets do the trick?
Does Star Trek ever learn? This piles onto a stack of prequels fans already endured. Enterprise dropped in 2001. It dug into the 22nd century pre-Federation days. Captain Archer’s team broke ground in deep space. They botched first contacts and learned the hard way. Those lessons birthed the Prime Directive. The series stood out with raw visuals and attitudes closer to our world. Starfleet felt scrappy back then. Who could complain about that fresh take?
What happened next? Later efforts just rehash tired tales. Kelvin movies kicked off in 2009. They recast Kirk and the original gang for blockbuster thrills. Studios chased casual viewers with nonstop action. Ticket sales tanked film by film. Fans craved brainy hard sci-fi. They got dumbed-down explosions instead. Discovery hit in 2017 as a prequel parked just before the original series. It overhauled uniforms, ships, and Klingon faces. Fans trashed the writing and cast. Strange New Worlds edged out Discovery slightly. Weak scripts piled up with lame jokes and stunt episodes. Starfleet Academy aimed for the 32nd century. Rotten writing and characters killed it. Paramount axed the show after two seasons on March 23 over fan backlash. Season two drops regardless of the cancellation. Will the series finale see a gay Klingon wedding? At this point, nothing is off the table.
Alex Kurtzman runs the current Star Trek sh, and he’s effectively wrecked the brand big time. Continuity snaps like twigs under his watch. Looks and vibes twist the lore into a mockery of itself, while Trekkies behold a franchise they no longer recognize. When will it end? Star Trek needs a timeout until a true lore fan cooks up a killer idea. That creator pushes ahead in time with fresh faces. The Next Generation nailed it back in 1987. New blood blasted the universe forward. Fans banked on Picard season three sparking Legacy. Tough luck, it fizzled. Year 1 just grinds over the same old dirt no one requested. Time for Star Trek to boldly beam out until real vision returns.
Todd Fisher
Todd lives in Northern California with "the wife," "the kids," "the dogs," "that cat," and he occasionally wears pants. His upcoming release, "Are You Woke Enough Yet?", is the culmination of too much time on social media and working in the film industry.
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