Star Trek’s lack of a true replacement forStar Trek: Voyagersuggests the franchise has lost interest in boldly going forward with new generations. From the 1960s to the 1990s,Star TrekTV showscharted a mostly linear course in terms of creative output.Star Trek: The Original Seriestook place in the 23rd century, thenStar Trek: The Next Generationpicked up the baton in the 24th, andStar Trek:Voyagerwas set immediately after that.
Deep Space Ninesat parallel toThe Next GenerationandVoyageras an outlier inStar Trek’s timeline, darker in tone and set on a fixed space station to offer something a little different. Nevertheless, the progression fromThe Original SeriestoThe Next GenerationtoVoyagersuggestedStar Trekwould always follow one main ship in each successive era. Even if shows likeDeep Space Ninetried something different,Star Treklooked like it would forever be spearheaded by the adventures of a modern Starfleet vessel exploring the galaxy, continuing the line of succession fromEnterprise to Enterprise-Dto Voyager.
No Star Trek Project Since Voyager Has Starred A New Generation
Was Voyager Secretly The Last Generation?
SinceStar Trek: Voyagerended21 years ago,the number of onscreen releases under theStar Trekbanner has exploded. Strangely, none of those releases have accepted the mantle fromVoyagerby pushing into the late 24th century or 25th century with a new crew to reveal what comes next inStar Trekhistory.
It started withEnterpriseopting for a return to the pre-Kirk years - an innovative change and somethingStar Trekhad avoided until that point. While its reputation has improved over the years,Enterprisereceived a mixed reception upon release, indicating thatStar Trekmust surely return to its traditional formula. Indeed, the exact opposite happened.
There appears to be far more interest in exploring the two extremities of the timeline than in simply casting a new crew.
J.J. Abrams took a sideways step by remakingThe Original Series' era at the movies with a brand-new cast. That proved a wise decision, revitalizingStar Trek’s fortunes on the big screen in the wake ofNemesis' failure.Star Trek’s success in 2009 understandably heightened expectations that the next step would be a post-VoyagerTV series set in the Prime Universe. Again,Star Trekhad other ideas.DiscoveryrepeatedEnterprise’s trick of looking to the past, awkwardly attempting to slot between Archer’s prequel andThe Original Series.
Eventually, that premise proved untenable andStar Trek: Discoverywas forced to relocate into the future. Even then, however, the series refused to becomeVoyager’s successor, and instead warped far, far ahead into the 32nd century to sit in total isolation from the rest ofStar Trek. As the IP then expanded rapidly, there was still no room for a new generation.Star Trek: Picardwas set at the right point in time, but functioned as an epilogue to the Enterprise-D crew, and also dropped the adventure-of-the-week format in favor of serialized mysteries.
The Real Captain Kirk Returned To Star Trek In Strange New Worlds' Epic Time Travel Episode
James T. Kirk was absent from Star Trek’s Prime Universe since his death in Star Trek Generations, but Strange New Worlds brought Kirk back.
Strange New Worldscontinued to eke out as much material as possible from the gap beforeThe Original Series, and as an animated comedy,Star Trek: Lower Decksexisted firmly on the periphery of the franchise.The closestStar Trekhas come to replacingVoyageris, tellingly,Star Trek: Prodigy, but by virtue of being a cartoon aimed at a younger audience, it could never become the next flagship series afterVoyager.
The trend shows little sign of ending anytime soon. With aStar Trekorigin movie in production and theStarfleet AcademyTV showcoexisting in the 32nd century alongsideDiscovery, there appears to be far more interest in exploring the two extremities of the timeline than in simply casting a new crew and resuming whereVoyagerleft off.
Why Introducing A New Generation Of Star Trek Is Riskier Than The Current Shows
Times Have Changed Since The 1990s
Exactly whyStar Trekdropped the straightforward notion of one cast picking up from the previous one and taking a shiny new Starfleet ship out into the Final Frontier is impossible to say. Regardless, it must be noted that in the modern era of streaming, nostalgia, reboots, and remakes,Star Trek’s old format is a far bigger risk.
Inventing an all-new ship and casting a fresh ensemble that audiences will gradually learn to love week after week represents a major risk.
Since 2009,Star Trek’s live-action output has rested firmly upon familiarity. For J.J. Abrams, that meant recasting the original crew led by Kirk, Spock, and McCoy to tell new stories (or rewrite old ones) with characters the audience already loved.Star Trek: Discoverymay have introduced a new cast and a new ship, but the familiarity of the period allowed it to include icons like Spock and Pike too.
By theend ofStar Trek: Picard, Patrick Stewart’s solo project had essentially becomeThe Next Generationseason 8, and at this point,Strange New Worldsis just a temporal hiccup away from just remakingThe Original Series. EverythingStar Trekhas produced over the past 15 years has been firmly rooted in what viewers already know, and while some great stories have emerged as a result, the lack of a realVoyagersuccessor has become more and more obvious.
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In the current arena of recycling things that were successful once upon a time, inventing an all-new ship and casting a fresh ensemble that audiences will gradually learn to love week after week represents a major risk. Especially when the alternatives are re-recasting Spock or phoning up Patrick Stewart.
Star Trek: Picard Set Up A New Generation Of Star Trek, But It Hasn’t Happened Yet
Will Seven Of Nine’s Enterprise-G Crew Return?
Star Trek: Picardseason 3 was an unapologetic throwback toThe Next Generation, but it also laid the foundations forStar Trek’s next TV show in the same vein asThe Original Series,The Next Generation, andVoyager. In a dramatic final battle, a new crew was formed on the Enterprise-G withSeven of Nine as the captain.Star Trek: Picardended with the suggestion that this exciting, fledgling group of Starfleet officers would embark on many thrilling capers across the cosmos, perfectly teasing a future series.
Star Trek: Legacywould unquestionably become the fourth “original recipe” entry in the franchise.
Dubbed “Star Trek: Legacy,” the project has attracted massive enthusiasm, but shows no sign of officially moving forward. In many respects,Star Trek: Legacyoffers the best of both worlds: a hefty dose of familiarity, but a continuation of the traditional format set afterVoyager.
12 Biggest Picard Season 3 Questions Star Trek Legacy Can Answer
Star Trek: Picard season 3 wrapped up most of the series’ storylines, but there are still a few questions that could be answered in a Legacy spinoff.
The presence of established characters like Seven of Nine, as well as the offspring of heroes fromThe Next Generation, ensures the Enterprise-G crew will not have to earn the audience’s love completely from scratch. At the same time,Star Trek: Legacywould unquestionably become the fourth “original recipe” entry in the franchise, ticking the five boxes necessary to finally replaceVoyager: a live-action medium, the traditionalStar Trektone, being set in the next era, introducing a fresh crew on a new ship, and an episodic format.
