‘Netflix And Fill’ -- And Other Signs Paramount Remains Inhospitable to Star Trek
The latest signal fans aren’t willing to give up on saving “Lower Decks”
Paramount may have resolved the question of its future ownership and leadership months ago, but the future of Star Trek has not measurably brightened in that time.
In fact, we continue to see developments that indicate the franchise remains in an even more tenuous state going forward.
However, even as Star Trek: Lower Decks just wrapped up the fifth season that Paramount said would be its last, fans have launched a new initiative to try to save the animated series by moving it elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Paramount cut further into the franchise by cancelling Wil Wheaton’s popular aftershow and self-described “hub for all things Star Trek universe,” The Ready Room.
Fandom’s latest effort on behalf of Lower Decks seems to try to replicate the success in keeping Star Trek’s other animated series — Star Trek: Prodigy — alive, by trying to get it picked up by Netflix.
Called “Netflix and Fill,” the new campaign to save Lower Decks employs a little-known customer service feature of Netflix’s, which is an online form on which subscribers can request TV shows and movies that should be added to the streaming service.
“Netflix And Fill” features a mascot in the style of the Lower Decks character, Badgey, called “Netflixy,” with the slogan, “It looks like you’re trying to save Lower Decks!”
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Netflix unexpectedly saved Star Trek: Prodigy, when it agreed to pick up the youth series last year after Paramount suddenly cancelled it after just a single season and even removed that from its Star Trek library on Paramount Plus.
The crew at Virtual Trek Con highlighted “Netflix And Fill” during a recent podcast.
Meanwhile, in another sign of just how little Paramount values Star Trek, its fandom and the cohesion of the franchise as a whole, the company apparently killed the popular Ready Room aftershow.
Wil Wheaton, an alum of Star Trek: The Next Generation, has been hosting The Ready Room for nearly five years.
But he apparently signed off with the latest episode following the Lower Decks finale:
“It really has been the joy of a lifetime celebrating the Star Trek universe with you. This latinum age of Star Trek has brought us so many wonderful characters and storylines, and there is so much more ahead.
With Strange New Worlds, Section 31, and Starfleet Academy all on the horizon — and more adventures in the final frontier to come — Gene Roddenberry’s vision of an optimistic future has never been more necessary or brighter. In the words of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, let’s see what’s out there.”
The Ready Room might not have seemed like much, just a little promotional lagniappe. But with Wheaton’s knowledge and, frankly, loving enthusiasm for the franchise, The Ready Room was always a regular and welcome little celebration of all things Star Trek.
And its end is perhaps Paramount’s unkindest cut against the fans.
The cash-strapped studio might have been able to cry, “Poverty,” with its decisions to end series like Lower Decks, Prodigy, Star Trek: Discovery.
But The Ready Room — usually confined to a single simple set — was hardly a big-budget endeavor.
And Wheaton’s salary for what was really a part-time gig could hardly be breaking Paramount’s bank.
No, the apparent demise of The Ready Room is simply a sad and discouraging sign of how little value Paramount assigns to Star Trek anymore.
And that continues to leave the future of the franchise very much in doubt.
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