Ultimately, all of Kurtzman Trek shows chase that non-Trekkie audience - and fall completely flat on this goal, with their only audience being slightly annoyed old and grandfathered-in Trek fans.
Trek is a 60 year old franchise that hopes to be around for another 60 years so catering exclusively to a bunch of middle age / seniors is, frankly, inane and bad business. I think they really failed by putting it on streaming.
I think aiming for a new audience isn't a bad thing in principle. The thing is that the only real time that happened was with TNG, and it was just kind of by accident. the rest of Berman Trek just coasted on people who were already bought into the franchise.
Exactly!
Star Trek was not aimed at "nerds" or whatever else some of the more extreme, gate keeping elements of fandom seems to think as they decry attempts at reaching a broader audience. Roddenberry understood that to stay on tv he needed to reach and HOLD millions of viewers, not just niche scifi fans. It's why
Star Trek blew up in the 70's. Because regular, non-scifi fans could sit down and enjoy it. Plenty of us remember watching Trek with our parents because the show was written that way.
I'm not going anywhere! I like observing trainwrecks!
There's something sad about "hate watching" a show.
Maybe I’ve missed someone mentioning this elsewhere, but
this review, by the way, reveals what we’ve been wondering about earlier: Jay-Den is
described as “queer” (which of course might not mean he’s gay; could also be bi, pan, ace or non-binary, I guess). You just
know that certain parts of the fandom will explode with bigotry upon learning this, but I think it’s cool that the show is doing it. I don’t envy the people who’ll have to manage online spaces where these kind of bigots will spew their hatred.
Wait!
And they'll get mad when you call them out on it. They'll use "dog whistles" and then scream you're "the real bigot" because you can see through the bullshit.
I’m excited!!! Just a bit nervous from what we’ve seen about the characters so far (a Klingon named Jay’den??) but I’m hopeful nonetheless
I hear you and make no mistake....I eye rolled at the name. But here's the thing: In 1986 I learned the names of two characters in an upcoming
Star Trek spin off called "The Next Generation". When I read those names I thought these were two of the dumbest fucking names ever created and given to characters. Those names?
Worf and Data.
Up until then, Klingons typically had cool sounding names that began with 'K' (for some reason).
Kang, Koloth, Kor, Kruuge (sp). Now we have "wharf"? WTF!?
They named the android "Data"!? Again, WTF!? That's like naming him "Computo".
The point being is that the characters were written and acted well enough and now those names don't seem stupid, in fact I can't imagine those characters being named anything else. So we'll see if the same holds for this new character.
I feel genuinely bad writing this. It's not a bash, nor will it ever turn into a bash. It's just self-awareness....
But, after watching the trailers, reading articles, etc. I feel as though this is the first Star Trek production in franchise history that simply isn't for me.
And there's nothing wrong that. I hit that point a season or so into Voyager's first run. I found it to just be more of the same tired old shit. I wasn't really into DS9 as much as I wanted to be, but I still respect it not just doing another goddamn starship show and vomiting up more of the same. But, to not only my surprise but the shock of the people who had known me all my life, I gravitated to a new show called Babylon 5. I prefer it (with all it's flaws) to anything Trek has produced post TNG (except Lower Decks).
It's okay to move on from Trek. It's not always going to be for you. That is literally life. Music changes, clothing style changes, slang changes, the world changes. Some people can accept that. Others become bitter and miserable that not only did the world change, it didn't ask their permission and doesn't care that they don't like it. I've been watching some people complain about the current era of Trek since 2009.
17 years
Guess what?
After 17 years all of that complaining and bitterness has accomplished exactly nothing. Well, it's made some people look sad and pathetic for not having the wherewithal to simply move on to things that will bring them joy, but otherwise....nothing. I get the first several years of complaining we've all done that....but seven-fucking-teen? Almost two decades? Yeah, best to move on.
Edited to add: "moving on" doesn't mean "stop watching" any Trek of course. For me it just means Trek is no longer "must see" or "appointment" tv. I still watch
Star Trek, TNG and very rarely DS9 when the mood strikes me. I've tuned into this third era of Trek and have enjoyed about as much as I've disliked (except LD which I love).
which meant quantity over quality
Most of the Trek franchise is mediocre, at best, with a decent amount of good episodes and a handful of excellent ones. That doesn't mean they can't be entertaining, but too many fans look at Trek with rose colored glasses. I say this as a fan of 53 years who still loves
Star Trek more than it's spin-off's and being painfully aware of all it's flaws.
I do wish they would've aired the current era on regular tv instead of streaming though. I think DSC and SNW would be much bigger with more exposure. PIC / LD I'm not sure CBS would've been the best home for them.
