The Star Trek franchise returned to the silver screen with its highly successful 2009 reboot
of the same name, but a decade later, the whole series seems to be stuck in limbo.
But just how did it all go so wrong, so fast?
Part of the beauty of the Star Trek universe is how many different takes, visions, and
ideas fans are able to see applied to the classic Wagon-Train-in-space formula.
Over the decades, many different people have taken the helm, each with their own style
of cinematography, concept of characterization, and visual flair.
Some love J.J. Abrams' slick take on the Enterprise and her inhabitants, while some prefer Gene
Roddenberry's original work, and others are Deep Space Nine diehards.
And the wonderful thing is that they can actually coexist.
Everyone has their favorite director, just like everyone has their favorite captain.
But there is a downside to this directorial shuffling, and it's part of the reason the
films have run aground in the way that they have.
Star Trek 4 has changed hands more than once: Quentin Tarantino and S.J.
Clarkson were both rumored as directors at various times, then a confusing pseudo-clarification
was made stating that Clarkson's movie would be separate and released before Tarantino's.
Multiple writers and producers were named, changed, and named again.
No vision was ever truly able to coalesce between any of these creators, and the fans
had nothing to center their excitement around.
"I can see no appeal in either option."
"Well believe it or not, neither can I."
Now the project has fallen apart entirely, and no one is even really certain what might
have been, since the film was never able to settle around any one team or vision.
It just proves the old adage right: you don't want too many captains on the bridge.
2009's Star Trek was a box office smash as well as a critical darling, garnering a solid
little fandom of its own, full of fans who were more than willing to see more of the
Enterprise's new adventures.
The sequel, Into Darkness, was unable to recreate the success of the first film, and constituted
a step down for the franchise both critically and commercially.
But it wasn't a real failure, and so the Hollywood wheels kept turning, and Star Trek Beyond
was released.
This film was a further step downwards, since it underperformed at the box office and ended
up lost in the midst of its competitors.
The writing was on the wall: Star Trek was traveling a downward trajectory that showed
no signs of changing course any time soon.
A movie as great as that first Star Trek could turn anything around, of course, but great
movies aren't easy to make, and evidently the executives who hold the purse strings
didn't want to take a risk.
Star Trek 4 was a gambit, and nobody could guarantee that it would pay off.
One thing that made the 2000s Trek movies the successes they (mostly) were was the cast.
Zachary Quinto as Spock brought new warmth to the famously chilly Vulcan, Zoe Saldana
was a quippy wonder as Lt. Uhura, and even the smaller characters proved to be nothing
less than outstanding.
People love Star Trek for a lot of reasons, but there's a reason the debate always comes
down to favorite captains: because fans are ultimately in it for the characters.
There's no bigger personality on the Enterprise than Captain Kirk, of course, and Chris Pine
proved he could deliver an irresistible take on the role.
Pine's charisma lit up the screen and became a linchpin of the film's success, but that
ended up being a curse as much as it was a blessing.
Star Trek 4 endured months of rumors about casting turmoil, and in August 2018, it was
revealed that talks to secure Pine for the project had fallen through.
There's no Star Trek without Kirk, and no Kirk without Chris Pine.
So now there's no Star Trek at all.
Back in 2009, Star Trek was in theaters, blowing minds with its unique brand of brash, sassy
science fiction adventure.
But back then, the world wasn't used to that sort of thing.
Iron Man was only a year old, and the scale and depth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
as it exists today was still just a twinkle in Kevin Feige's eye.
The idea of a talking raccoon with a tragic backstory and a fondness for oversize weaponry
was practically laughable.
And no one even knew who Kylo Ren was yet.
Geek had yet to become chic, and Star Trek was pretty much the only game in town.
Nowadays, however, everyone knows who Rocket Raccoon is, and Saturday Night Live is making
jokes about vibranium.
"It's locked!
Maybe if you had some vibranium it would open."
"Say what?"
Genre fiction, once maligned, now rules the world, and Star Trek has been outstripped
by Marvel, Star Wars, and all kinds of other sci-fi/fantasy titans.
Though the Star Trek sequels were hardly flops, the reality is, they weren't the smash hits
they needed to be to keep up with the likes of The Avengers and The Force Awakens.
To be merely passable ended up being an unforgivable sin in the eyes of the public…and now we're
all terrified of the First Order instead of Klingons.
Star Trek is a franchise that spans many mediums, but its roots are in television, and likely
always will be.
In 2017, the franchise returned to its roots with Star Trek: Discovery on the CBS All Access
streaming service.
Discovery begins roughly one decade before the events of the original Star Trek, and
follows the adventures of the crew of the USS Discovery, led by anthropologist Michael
Burnham.
Though its run so far has been hamstrung by what many see as a slow start and some wonky
writing, reviews have trended upwards and viewership has been decent.
Unfortunately, decent just isn't enough.
The truth is that a massively popular new installment of the series could have injected
the movies with the adrenaline they needed to get out of development hell, but the numbers
simply aren't there.
Discovery is solid, but not a smash.
Good for fans of Star Trek as a streaming serial, but bad news for those who want more
big screen adventures for the Enterprise and her crew.
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