‘Discovery’ Hardly Was the First ‘New Trek’
As we say "goodbye" to the series, evolution of the franchise has been just part of the TV biz
Maybe it’s hard to remember today, but when Star Trek: Discovery debuted in 2017, we hadn’t seen any new Star Trek on TV in a dozen years.
The series, which is set to premiere Thursday with its fifth — and final — season, launched the number of other new Star Trek series which followed.
So it was deeply dispiriting that when a genre news website last year published the results of a poll run on social media, a plurality of fans said that they actually would be happy to see the end of Discovery.
While perhaps it shouldn’t be too surprising given all the opprobrium heaped on Discovery over the years, it was disappointing to see fans become so vicious.
Honestly, I don’t think that even Star Trek: Enterprise saw such vitriol in its darkest days.
Some misguided fans, of course, will prattle on with slogans like, “Go woke, go broke,” and the like.
But those would be as fallacious as they are misinformed.
Star Trek: Discovery never represented some sharp, new departure for the franchise. And the changes which the series has represented have had more to do with the truisms in the business of television than anything inherent to Star Trek itself.
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Star Trek always has evolved because it’s audience has consistently turned over — and over again — through the decades.
“The most lucrative segment of the American general public is the male age group, 18 to 34. These are the people who are most likely to spend money as a direct result of seeing an ad on TV, or something in a movie,” explained fan and Star Trek YouTuber Jim Payne.
And so it is that Star Trek — like most everything else on TV — simply has been chasing that ever-changing demographic in nearly 60 years on the air, Payne said.
Indeed, Payne produced an insightful video which all fans should watch, in order to get a better appreciation for the evolution of the franchise:
From the Silent Generation and the Baby Boomers, to today’s Millennials and Generation Z, Star Trek simply has been chasing the demographic — and audience — everyone else on TV does.
And changes to the franchise, as Payne explains, simply cater to each new generation.
In a very real way, you could say that Star Trek is — and always will be — Star Trek: The Next Generation.
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