By Chris Snellgrove | Published
While Star Trek: Discovery ended up becoming a relatively controversial show in the fandom, creator Bryan Fuller originally wanted it to be an anthology show that would serve as the ultimate love letter to fans. He planned for each season to be a different story set in a different time period, making it the science fiction equivalent of shows like American Horror Story. Paramount passed on the idea, but now that Discovery is over and Star Trek is at a creative crossroads, the time has come to make this anthology a reality.
The hit TV series Star Trek needs
What would make such a series a success, especially for fans disappointed that we didn’t get a Star Trek: Legacy to show? On the one hand, an anthology format means we’ll get a fresh crop of new characters and actors every season. Fans who hated the main characters of a given season (e.g. Michael Burnham, the cool but controversial Starfleet girlboss) could look forward to whatever the next season would bring instead of just tuning out the series entirely.
Additionally, a Star Trek anthology series would solve the ongoing problem of different fans wanting shows set in different time periods. Not every fan wants a prequel like Strange new worlds (no matter how good the series is), just as not all fans want a series set over several centuries in future continuity (like Discovery after season 2). Meanwhile, the third season of Picard was a resounding success, not least because it was set in the immediate future of The next generationallowing us to see what our favorite characters have been up to.
Do the Impossible: Please All Trekkie Types
In this case, a Star Trek anthology could do the impossible – namely please almost every fan – simply by setting each season in a different time period. This is what Bryan Fuller originally wanted to do. Discovery: Its concept was to start as a prequel to TOS, then focus on the TOS era, then the TNG era, and finally move to a distant future that audiences had never seen before. A new anthology show wouldn’t necessarily have to take place in such a chronological order, but its format could still delight a fractured fandom by functionally giving them a whole new show every season.
Plus, now that Star Trek bigwigs have confirmed that we won’t be getting a Legacy show, an anthology series is our only way to follow up beloved characters like Riker, Dr. Crusher, Seven of Nine, and more. They might appear for an episode or even an entire season shortly after the Picard era; Besides, other seasons could follow up on non-Picard characters. WHO wouldn’t I Do you want a season focused on Admiral Archer or Admiral Janeway? The actors behind these fan-favorite characters would be much more likely to return to this franchise if they didn’t have to sign multi-year contracts for seven seasons.
I’m a Star Trek fan who really enjoyed the NuTrek era. Discovery and Picard were mixes for me, while Strange new worlds And Lower decks have been amazing. But I worry about the future of the franchise for several reasons: Starfleet Academy is Teenybopper bait built from a prematurely canceled series, Article 31 looks like a schlock action movie, and the next movie will be a redundant Federation origin movie. Star Trek is at a creative crossroads, and an anthology show could do for the franchise what Captain Kirk did best: turn death into a chance to live.
