I recently completed reading the great two-volume set The 50 Year Mission, An Oral History of Star Trek, and it got me thinking. The first volume, covering the original series and the subsequent films with the original cast, had some great tidbits on how the series was conceived and how the movies came into being. The second set, covering The Next Generation and all subsequent series and films, also provides details any Trek fan would find… fascinating.
While reading I saw one consistent (and surprising) trend. They didn’t call it this, but the label fits:
“Not my Star Trek.”
When the animated series came out, many fans didn’t like it.
(“Where’s Chekov? They dumbed it down for kids!”
When the Motion Picture came out, many fans didn’t like it
(“What did they do to the Klingons! I hate the costumes.”).
When The Next Generation was in development, a whole lot of fans were critical before seeing one frame of film.
(“A bald man as captain? A Klingon on the bridge?”)
And so on. The book even quotes Nicholas Meyer, director and writer of the seminal Wrath of Khan, on his reaction to (the semi remake/reboot) Star Trek Into Darkness, where he says he doesn’t see the point of the movie at all… and that it wasn’t very good Star Trek (a sentiment many shared). Yet many viewers quite enjoyed the film.
So, with a franchise that is 51+ years old, and still going, these historic (and current) reactions beg the question: Whose Star Trek is it, anyway?
For the “dark years” between 1969 and 1978, when Star Trek was off the air (save the aforementioned animated series) the ownership of Star Trek was clear – while Gulf/Paramount owned Star Trek, the fans were the true “owners” – they had helped get the original series a third season with an unprecedented write-in campaign, and they were filling convention halls around the world as Star Trek was being rolled out in syndication to new viewers young and old.
To them, the original series was “their” Star Trek.
Flash forward to The Next Generation, and you have the (pun unintended) next generation of fans, who adopted Star Trek as their own, They fell in love with the characters, and they became dedicated devoted fans.
To this group, Next Gen is Star Trek. Period.
Likewise, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. Each has their own set of devoted fans, and the beat goes on.
Which brings us to Star Trek: Discovery.
Is Discovery “MY” Star Trek? Nope. Do I like it? That is not the point. People DO like it, and people also HATE it. And that’s fine.
When you look at modern fandom, the most descriptive word you can use is “divisive.” People tweet or unlike or like and they do it in warp factor speed. Heck, we do out “hot take” reax in REAL TIME, for Pete’s sake.
Like all the legacy fans were stating Not My Star Trek, a lot of Star Wars fans reacted to the newest installment The Last Jedi with similar sentiments. Some of them LOST THEIR MINDS over the movie. Which, in my opinion, is not a productive use of time or energy. If you liked it, fine, If you didn’t… well, ranting on the Internet won’t change anyone’s minds who liked.
Star Trek, like Star Wars, will now outlive us. As long as there is Entertainment, in any medium, creators and studios will revisit, reboot, refresh and sequel-ize both franchises. And when they do that, they will do that with “fresh minds, new ideas.”
And that’s AMAZING.
If you look at Star Trek as evolving… like V’Ger… you have to accept the change. You may not be graceful about that acceptance, you may stomp your feet and rant on the Internet… but the change will happen, with or without your buy in.
Whose Trek is it, anyway? It’s ours. And not ours. It belongs to the future, to those people who discover it. A Star Trek that resonates with THEM, not necessarily us.
So, old school fans, don’t walk away from Star Trek. Accept that what Trek is now is not “your” Trek.
And boldly let go.