Is Star Trek more popular now than ever before?

One thing to remember is that jut because current TV execs might be hesitant to commission a new ST show it doesn't mean when they retire/move on, their replacements will be.

But that can take many years (maybe 15+)

 

Since the star trek movie aired, star trek is more respectable - and better known.

Of course, by comparison to the entire society, it remains strictly fringe "popularity".

 

If only...

Even a dedicated comic-book shop like Forbidden Planet, is sparse when it comes to Trek memorabilia. Tucked away right at the back away from direct sunlight, like hardcore porngraphy. Shifty looking and fertive men of a certain age, coming in every once in a while going, "Pssst. Got any Star Trek?" An attractive assistant pointing with a bad smell under their noses to the far side of the room.

I'm with those who think Star Trek peaked around 1996/97, with the 30th Anniversary and First Contact, DS9 and VOY having at last found or close to finding their respective strides. But even then, it wasn't mainstream... not really... but releases in many different kinds of media kept on coming each and every month, with stores obliged to find room for it all with ever increasing shelf-space.

Would I like Star Trek is be HUGE and everywhere? Fuck yeah. But that's not going to happen without a New Series, or at least some of the old stuff being repeated by a mainstream channel, where it will be noticed by the widest audience available. At least, that's how a resurgence in an old show's fortunes used to happen. TV habits are so fragmented these days... between streaming, Netfix and all the rest of it. Unless you happen to be CSI or one of the head of CBS' favourite shows, in which case you're never off the air in one form or another and repeated as an inexpensive way to fill an otherwise empty timeslot.

BTW: Lovin' your avatar Gary 7, although I suspect you're going more for irony than actual appreciation!

 

Well said. Yeah, end of 20th Century was the heyday of Star Trek. After 9/11, it seemed everything went downhill a bit, and Trek began to buckle and rupture. I too would like to see more material being made, whether it be series or movies, as long as it would be of very good quality. Something worthwhile to add to the universe. DS9 had the best epic moments, with monumental wars and whole quadrants in the balance. But there was still so much to explore. I'd really have liked to see Borg technology fully leveraged and even improved upon, with the Federation building their own transwarp conduits (a "green" thing to do, by helping to reduce warp field wear and tear to the universal fabric).

Thanks. A little of both, actually. Two ends of the Star Trek spectrum, and yet very close in time. Mirror Archer on the Defiant wearing the green wrap tunic is a favorite of mine.

 

It is not more popular than ever.......At the moment. Very, very recently I've noticed stirrings, though....people re-watching, cropping up in conversation, etc. It's one of those moments where if a new show came out, there is a generation that would jump on it, if it was done well. would have to be original though. I have just bought the Hi-def TOS DVD's, and was (pleasantly)surprised that both young teen daughters want to watch them...

 

Two men between 65 and 47 liking Star Trek doesn't mean that it's more popular than ever.

It means that it used to be popular.

 

No. The glory days were the mid 1990's when TNG was moving from TV to movies, DS9 was going strong and VOYAGER was getting started. Plus, the novels, and comics and other stuff that I didn't always keep up with.

God, I miss that time.

And not just because of Star Trek.

 

^ I agree, and it isn’t just nostalgia talking. That era -- 1994/1995/1996 -- Trek was briefly mainstream. It was everywhere. It might be hard for some to remember, especially if they weren’t around then, just how astoundingly big (and accepted) Trek really was during that particular bubble of time. TNG had given Trek a credibility that even TOS had never really enjoyed. It didn’t take long for the bubble to burst, but I can distinctly remember that there was a *real* buzz about both TNG’s imminent rise to the big screen, as well as the debut of Star Trek: Voyager.

I’m sorry to repeat what others have already said here, but it’s all true. 2009’s Trek was popular, sure, and more of the not-we were evidently impressed by it compared to some previous movies. But the public profile of the franchise is nowhere near as big now as it was in that short space of time, eighteen years ago (has it really been that long?).

Which isn’t to say that, with the right people behind it, it couldn’t reach those heights again.

 

God knows? JJ's films will keep the franchise alive for a few more years but other than that Star Trek is in the dark ages like it was in the 70's. Who knows what will happen in the future for this franchise but I see the JJ films as a dead end; merely repeating Trek's greatest moments (I mean the new film features Kahn!). So much for a reboot...

But then again what makes any show distinctive? The late 20th and early 21st century is so prolific with films, TV shows, series and stuff that it all becomes less memorable as there is so much of the stuff around. New TV series are fighting for increasingly smaller spaces with reality TV, and rehashes of old taking up the airwaves. The only memorable thing of this century have been the Harry Potter films and Lord of the Rings trilogy (LOTR > Harry Potter and the LOTR films the best of this century), plus CSI. Seriously has there any other MASSIVE films or series out there which has captured a lot (I mean a lot) of attention?

Unless there's a paradigm shift in TV (whatever that means) I'm not sure there's a place for a new ST series.

 

It means that Star Trek's (admittedly overblown) message of hope and optimisim have no place in today's darker (and dumbed down) TV landscape. But who knows? That could change.

And I agree with your comments on Khan, Since this is a reboot, I too was hoping for something new. On the other hand, because this IS a reboot, they can do remakes of earlier stories. I'm on the fence on this point, I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing.

Maybe a little of both.

 

Star Trek can do dark, but I think it's more about the people and less about sci-fi. I mean TOS and TNG relied far more on the interactions of people and aliens than all the fancy sci-fi stuff of VOY simply because of budgetary restraints. DS9 took it a step further with a darker message. DS9 showed you could have constant darker elements and Star Trek would still be Star Trek. But you nailed it with the dumbed down remark; people don't want to think...

 

There was a shit-ton of dumb Star Trek long before Abrams came along. Going all the way back to 1966.

 

I hardly think today's television environment is "dumbed down," at least when it comes to scripted drama. In recent years we've seen smart, compelling, extremely well-written shows like The Wire, BSG, The Shield, Mad Men, Deadwood, Friday Night Lights, Dexter, Weeds, and even sitcoms like Arrested Development, Modern Family, Parks & Rec, etc.

Yes, there's always the idiotic reality shows but the fact is, much of television has gotten far more sophisticated and intelligent during the past decade.

 

Perhaps the problem lies within the fact that the later Trek shows, VOY and ENT didn't respond to the changeing landscape for more sophisticated shows.

 

It's more popular and it's not. That might sound like double-talk or a non-answer but it's the truth.

The general audience is more likely to see the new Star Trek movies than they would've seen the earlier ones, especially after the first four, but I don't think most of them became interested in older Star Trek.

Without a new series, it's hard to say if there are even new fans, so much as a new audience that just happens to see the Abrams' films like they would any other blockbuster.

I'd say Star Trek is now more inconspicuous and mainstream than necessarily popular. It's part of the pack of successful film franchises but I don't think it's the leader of the pack.

In the '90s, on the TV end, Star Trek was a big fish (though not as large as ST XI) in a much smaller pond. TNG was the leader of the first-run syndicated dramatic series pack. DS9, even though it didn't have TNG's ratings, still held its own against its first-run syndicated peers. VOY was UPN's #1 series; but the competition wasn't that stiff since all UPN had going for it during the first half of its existence was Voyager and Moesha. WB was definitely winning the battle for the title of Fifth Network.

 

I don't think that's a fact at all (VOY and ENT were both more sophisticated than a lot that was on UPN at time). I think it's more of a case that by the time VOY and ENT came along, mainstream audiences had more than had their fill of Trek after TNG ended. TNG came along at the right time as there was a general drought of sci-fi on TV for most of its run.

 

They might have been sophisticated for UPN, but how did they compare to what was showing on the main network channels, i.e. NBC?

 

Equal if not sometimes above at times.

 

Something obviously happened. Nemesis, being the last TNG film, was a disappointment, and Enterprise, being the latest Trek series, was cancelled.

As it was pointed out before, we were probably getting saturated with too much Trek.

Futuristic Sci Fi in general seems to be in a temporary slump.

Fantasy seems to be where it is at now. Hunger Games, Spartacus, Game of Thrones, Avengers- particular on cable, where adult language and nudity can be used more freely.

Forget the future, go into the past, or fantasy places with bizarre scenarios.

It's going to be hard to see how Trek can compete with that.

Notice that Even the Nu Trek movie has a darker, edgier theme to it.

 

The Tron sequel had a higher world wide gross than the Abrams abomination.

No one would've tried to claim Tron was more popular than Star Trek in 1982. Just for some perspective on the matter. Tron has has a new cartoon, another sequel on the way and so on.

Transformers is way more popular than Star Trek. Not the case in the 80s/early 90s.

I use those two because Transformers is an equally horrible reboot (by the same writers!) and Tron is a sequel/reboot. Now both are more successful with their reboots/continuations.

Star Trek's popularity height was at the end of TNG when the show was getting absolute monster, unheard of, ratings in syndication. Star Trek would then go on to have amusement park rides, a special Vegas thing, two TV shows+movies, shelves of book space at book stores, large reference books and so on.

What does it have now? It exists in a vacuum. They can't even reopen Star Trek Experience in Vegas. OTOH both Transformers and Tron continue to branch out their franchises.