Strange New Worlds has made me happy to be a Star Trek fan again, after years of looking at the mess the franchise was in and sighing.
I mean, I liked the Kelvin timeline movies for what they were- Trek for the masses. Made to entertain, if not inspire. But far from the worst Trek has to offer.
I mean, I love TOS and TAS, even as hokey as those shows could be. TNG had to work hard to earn my love, but it got there. DS9 as well (though I admit, I was distracted at the time by the other sci fi classic set aboard a space station...).
But Voyager? Ugh. Enterprise? How you could have a show starring Scott Bakula and make me dislike it? Double ugh!
Discovery, between creating this Mary Sue rebel character and the whole "did we steal the Tardigrades and the Spore Drive from someone else" debacle, plus being a streaming service exclusive, really bummed me out.
Picard...was...a show.
Lower Decks was at least amusing, and I got a chuckle out of the love letters to the fandom ("Chief Miles O'Brien is the most important member of Starfleet!", indeed!).
But when SNW came out, I heard people gush about it. Then I finally gave Paramount my money (I still feel scummy about it) and was floored. Sure, not every episode hits. But the production values, the acting, the character dynamics- it was all great. But what really won me over (even more so than Ansom Mount's massive Charisma score!) was the sense I got that the showrunners actually care about the show and it's fandom. They treat the subject matter with a lot more seriousness than I've come to expect in the past couple decades. So if this isn't the pinnacle of Star Trek, I'm not sure what is. "Ad Aspera per Aspera" is at least the equal of "The Measure of a Man" (and possibly better- I know, you can stop hissing at me in Klingon, I'm a heretic).
The show has learned from many of the lessons (often painful ones) from the past. It's only flaw is, as a prequel series, it has to dance with the sacred timeline. We know Spock isn't going to die, for example. We're going to see a lot of characters and events happen out of sequence (I'm waiting for Tribbles, lol). But I think that's ok. As someone who grew up with Star Trek, from syndication of TOS as a kid on, I think it's ok to retell these stories, as long as we stay true to the vision of what the show is about.
IDIC, a hope for a better future, and to boldly go where no one has gone before.
Live long and prosper, everyone.
