One thing I've seen in the wake of the announcement of Discovery's conclusion with season 5, the popularity of Strange New Worlds, and people (so far) praising Picard season 3 in a way that seems to have mostly united the fanbase that wasn't present in the first two seasons, is some consternation about what it says about the nature of Star Trek as an intellectual property (at least when it comes to live-action productions) and what the fandom is looking for in a Trek series. And how that can get into arguments over "woke" politics and fan service.
I have seen some Discovery fans argue bitterly in the comments on some websites that the cancelation of the show is something akin to a surrender to the segment of Trek fandom that was uncomfortable and outright racist, sexist, and homophobic with female people of color as leads and LGBTQ characters being front and center, which was lamented as "woke politics." The argument goes that it's no coincidence that Strange New Worlds and Picard season 3 are being embraced because it puts straight, white male leads (Pike, Spock, Picard, Riker, etc.) back at the center of the action.
Beyond those issues, other Discovery fans have argued that the end of the show and the contentious reaction to it (as well as the Kelvin Verse films), indicates limits on what fans want from something called "Star Trek." That where the Paramount + shows have settled into is nostalgia and fan service, since unlike Discovery they're either heavily rooted in legacy characters (Picard, Janeway, Seven of Nine, etc.) or they follow the aesthetics and feel of the TNG-era to the letter (Lower Decks).
That the fact a segment of fans have repeatedly reacted STRONGLY to any attempts to stray too far from continuity, or introduce any aspects which stray from the entrenched aspects they've come to expect, means you can't really move too far beyond the formula. People don't want a spinning spore drive, because they know and expect warp drive. People don't want to try a new fishhead-version of Klingons, they want Klingons that look like Worf. People don't want droids and Mass Effect-ish space suit combat on a show where none of that was suggested to exist before in previous versions.
In short, people get too caught up in whether the LCARS displays look right or the uniforms match to the point that you can't ever move beyond the expectations Star Trek exists in.
The counter-argument to all of this is that if the initial production of Discovery hadn't been a mess to begin with, and the show itself had introduced some of these ideas in a better way, that beyond the racist/sexist idiots who were going to yap no matter what, a lot of these things wouldn't have been as contentious if they had been written better. Also, is it surprising that people want a Star Trek show to look and feel like Star Trek? At a certain point, why call it Star Trek if you're going to change everything about it that identifies it as Star Trek that people expect from a Star Trek series?
I have seen some Discovery fans argue bitterly in the comments on some websites that the cancelation of the show is something akin to a surrender to the segment of Trek fandom that was uncomfortable and outright racist, sexist, and homophobic with female people of color as leads and LGBTQ characters being front and center, which was lamented as "woke politics." The argument goes that it's no coincidence that Strange New Worlds and Picard season 3 are being embraced because it puts straight, white male leads (Pike, Spock, Picard, Riker, etc.) back at the center of the action.
Beyond those issues, other Discovery fans have argued that the end of the show and the contentious reaction to it (as well as the Kelvin Verse films), indicates limits on what fans want from something called "Star Trek." That where the Paramount + shows have settled into is nostalgia and fan service, since unlike Discovery they're either heavily rooted in legacy characters (Picard, Janeway, Seven of Nine, etc.) or they follow the aesthetics and feel of the TNG-era to the letter (Lower Decks).
That the fact a segment of fans have repeatedly reacted STRONGLY to any attempts to stray too far from continuity, or introduce any aspects which stray from the entrenched aspects they've come to expect, means you can't really move too far beyond the formula. People don't want a spinning spore drive, because they know and expect warp drive. People don't want to try a new fishhead-version of Klingons, they want Klingons that look like Worf. People don't want droids and Mass Effect-ish space suit combat on a show where none of that was suggested to exist before in previous versions.
In short, people get too caught up in whether the LCARS displays look right or the uniforms match to the point that you can't ever move beyond the expectations Star Trek exists in.
The counter-argument to all of this is that if the initial production of Discovery hadn't been a mess to begin with, and the show itself had introduced some of these ideas in a better way, that beyond the racist/sexist idiots who were going to yap no matter what, a lot of these things wouldn't have been as contentious if they had been written better. Also, is it surprising that people want a Star Trek show to look and feel like Star Trek? At a certain point, why call it Star Trek if you're going to change everything about it that identifies it as Star Trek that people expect from a Star Trek series?
