Captain Pike, Number One & Spock Are Heading For Strange New Worlds.
I think it’s fair to say that franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars have always been nothing but divisive, amongst ‘fans’. There’s nothing like a bit of sci-fi to get the blood of the nerds boiling to the point where they’re breaking open the weapons cabinet to retrieve their glass-incased bat'leths and lightsabers, ready for the ultimate showdown on Twitter. It’s all ‘my saber is bigger than yours’, and it’s all fun (no, it isn’t) and games until someone gets burnt fingertips, hurt feelings and a 30-day ban.
When you’ve grown up in different decades, it can be a factor in how you view a particular Star Trek. I, for one, grew up with TNG. That may be why it’s my favourite, to date. That being said, it may just be as simple as the fact that it had the best cast of characters, and actors, that fused so well together, each of them full of their own individual personalities. I think it’s fair to say that Data (Brent Spiner) is one of my two favourite Star Trek characters of all time (the other being Seven of Nine, played by Jeri Ryan), plus Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart) is easily the best captain, though he may have incoming competition. Plus, with TNG, you got the Borg. I mean, come on!
Sir Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
I was never really a fan of the original series. There was just something about it that I could not get in to. I just didn’t find a lot of the stories very interesting. It all just seemed a bit naff, but that’s probably more to do with the fact that it was released in the 60s. I’m sure it was great at the time (although it did get cancelled), but it just wasn’t fo me, and I’ve tried since to get into it. That being said, although it had a great cast, I was never much of a fan of James T. Kirk, or, more accurately, William Shatner. His acting style has become a thing of parody and impression over the years, but I always found him irritating, and I truly think that the star of that series was Leonard Nimoy as Spock. Although to be fair, Scotty (James Doohan), Bones (DeForest Kelley), Nyota (Nichelle Nichols), Sulu (George Takei) and Chekov (Walter Koenig) were all great characters, cast perfectly. So, it wasn’t all bad.
Deep Space Nine was, on the whole, pretty solid for me. The cast and characters were great, and I liked the focus on the Cardassians. Specifically that of Gul Dukat, played by Marc Alaimo, My only real problem with DS9 is that there seemed to be a lot of filler episodes with the Ferengi. Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re great, and I really loved Quark (Armin Shimmerman), but there wasn’t much to those episodes, and most of the time I just felt like skipping by them. It wasn’t until Worf (Michael Dorn) came in to it, that I got a little more invested, and the show really picked up with the introduction of the Dominion and the Jem’ Hadar.
I had the same issues with Voyager. To start with, it seemed to me like they took their time finding their feet. For the most part I liked the characters, but there were a couple that kind of got on my nerves, now and again. This show seemed to struggle more than the others (although it still lasted a hell of a lot longer than TOS), and I felt that there were weaker episodes in this than in any series so far. Again, it wasn’t until ex Borg Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) came in to it, that it started to get a bit more interesting. That being said, it was only more interesting when she was in it because she was such a great character. Voyager, for me, also has the weakest finale. I felt like I had taken the journey with them, only to be robbed at the finish line.
Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine (Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One).
Years passed, and not a sniff of anything new in the Star Trek world, aside from the new Kelvin timeline films, which I really enjoyed, That was until the announcement of Star Trek: Discovery, Finally! New Trek for me to nerd over. The excitement mounted the closer it got. Although, I was a bit of a loss at the fact that it was not going to focus on the captain, but rather the second in command (of sorts) in the guise of Michael (that’s a guy’s name) Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green). Still, I was looking forward to it.
Oh!
I really tried to get into it, even defending it when Twitter went into meltdown and refused to acknowledge it as Star Trek. However, I have to admit that it’s pretty dull. The first season was just boring as beige. The whole rubbish with the Klingons bored the crap out of me. Equally, I found the cast of characters to be void of any discernable personality. There was just nothing about any of them that stood out to me as interesting. The humour seemed to have disappeared, and even when there was an attempt it just fell pretty flat. The wonder of Star Trek was nowhere to be seen either. It just didn’t bring me the same joy as the others. Everything just seemed so gloomy and miserable, and I really don’t know why I expected any less. It was just bland. That’s it.
Still, when the second season came about, I was willing to go back and give it a second chance. See if it had ironed out the teething problems. Perhaps, picked a bloody captain. Nope! Although there were slight improvements, the tone of it still stank of depression and gloom. That was until Captain Pike (Anson Mount), Number one (Rebecca Romijn) and Spock (Ethan Peck) made an entrance. Suddenly, a breath of fresh air was injected into the bridge of the stale Discovery. Just a hint, but enough of a spark to make a difference. From then on, season two picked up enough to garner more interest. The casting of the three was perfect, and the relationship between them felt more like that of the series that had come before it. There was a hint of light-heartedness to the show, though these moments were still few.
Anson Mount really stood out amongst the whole thing. He brought charm, likeability, energy and fun to the series, like no one else had so far. The whole fan base reacted in the same fashion, and it wasn’t long before people were calling out for Pike, Number One and Spock to have their own show. And, the fans were listened to. The news was announced, and the fans rejoiced. Executive producer Alex Kurtzman had this to say:
“When we said we heard the fans’ outpouring of love for Pike, Number One and Spock when they boarded Star Trek: Discovery last season, we meant it, These iconic characters have a deep history in Star Trek’ canon, yet so much of their stories have yet to be told. The Enterprise, its crew and its fans are in for an extraordinary journey to new frontiers in the Star Trek universe.”
So, that’s it. The new Star Trek series, titled Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been announced for release, promising optimism. On the basis of their brief, but fantastic appearance in Discovery I have full confidence that the team behind it will deliver just that. This is the most excited that I have been about Trek for a long time. No word yet of a release date, but I wouldn’t expect it before the latter half of 2021, at the very least. That being said, I have a feeling that this one will certainly be worth the wait.