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So this is it then?

Very late to this discussion, but yes - I think this may be the end of the current incarnation of Star Trek.
It feels to me like Skydance is aiming for a clean sweep of the franchise: Strange New Worlds ending, Starfleet Academy cancelled. That said, I see this as a pause rather than an ending.

I think the “Kurtzman era” of Star Trek is over. Not because it failed (it very clearly didn't), but because there seems to be a desire for a reset - probably something that better reconnects the theatrical and television sides with a new, cohesive vision.

In many ways, that’s a pity. I’m someone who would genuinely have liked to see Legacy happen (please don’t come for me). If Picard season 3 had arrived earlier, I think it might well have been greenlit during that period of relentless “content, content, content.”

As ever with Star Trek, I’m interested to see what comes next. The core issue, I think, is that Kurtzman’s attempts to broaden the fan base haven’t really worked. That leaves the franchise in a difficult position: the fanbase is aging; younger audiences haven’t been fully won over by attempts to appeal to them (Prodigy, Starfleet Academy); but the core audience remains strong and loyal.

The question Skydance is likely wrestling with is how to maximise that audience - new and old - so that Star Trek is viable in the long term. Or do they accept this is not a franchise that will have Marvel-level appeal and go for something smaller and more intimate (ironically, what ST was pre-JJ). My gut has always been that ST is more of an Alien Romulus than a Prometheus in terms of scale... thats when it makes sense business wise.
 
I never interpreted the line as referring to Pike in the past. I'm unpersuaded by the reasoning here.

The accident was recent. Mendez's dominant memory of Pike-as-he-was, without assuming stuff not in evidence ("Maybe he hadn't seen Pike in a decade") would be months or a couple of years old. And he would reasonably speak of that man from his POV, not co-sign Kirk's recollections.

The exchange:
MENDEZ: You ever met Chris Pike?

KIRK: When he was promoted to Fleet Captain.

MENDEZ: About your age. Big, handsome man, vital, active.

KIRK: I took over the Enterprise from him. Spock served with him for several years.

SPOCK: Eleven years, four months, five days.

MCCOY: What's his problem, Commodore?

Mendez is referring to the Pike who existed up until the accident/rescue.

For me to buy the "talking about ten years ago" interpretation as intended or plausible actually would require something like eliding Mendez's line altogether.

MENDEZ: You ever met Chris Pike?

KIRK: When he was promoted to Fleet Captain. About my age. Big, handsome man, vital, active. I took over the Enterprise from him. Spock served with him for several years.

SPOCK: Eleven years, four months, five days.

MCCOY: What's his problem, Commodore?


In reality, this is just one of the big handful of inconsistencies and nonsense embedded in a hastily written, beat-to-fit envelope story that was needed to keep the show's production schedule on track. Trying to rationalize them away is futile.
 
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