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Paramount seems to be redirecting Star Trek'sfocus from TV to movies, which could threaten the franchise's future. Originally debuting as a TV series in 1966, the show followed the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew on the USS Enterprise. Over time, the franchise expanded with many successful TV series and films, but television remains its core.
With Strange New Worlds concluding after its fifth season and Starfleet Academy ending after its second, no new shows are currently in production. The sets for these shows are even being torn down, marking the end of an era for the franchise. What the future holds remains to be seen, but Paramount seems more committed to the film side.
Star Trek Has Produced Many Great Television Series
Throughout its long history, Star Trek has worked best as a television series. While it has produced some solid feature films, the greatest film never quite reached the heights of the television series' best. With its team of intrepid explorers, it makes sense that Star Trek would work best as an episodic television series, allowing Captain Kirk and his crew to embark on a new adventure each week.
The episodic nature of Star Trek's shows not only allows the crew to visit different alien planets each week, but it also allows some episodes to focus more on specific characters than others. In this way, the television series allows for more character development of an entire starship crew's worth of characters.
Not only did we get to know Kirk on Star Trek: The Original Series, but we also got to know Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Scotty (James Doohan), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), and many others. This character work became even more apparent in The Next Generation, which dedicated entire episodes to a single character.
Whether it was a Data (Brent Spiner) episode or a Worf (Michael Dorn) episode, these stories allowed for deeper exploration into the show's characters, something that's difficult to do for every character in a two-hour film. The nature of television also allows for greater flexibility in how stories are told.
Only in a show like Strange New Worlds could they pull off a musical episode and a crossover with an animated comedy. Star Trek has always been about experimentation and pushing boundaries, and television lends itself to this. One of the main reasons the original movies worked as well as they did was that they had the television series' history behind them.
Fans had already met and gotten to know the main characters before they made their feature film debut. Captain Kirk and his crew had already been on numerous adventures, making the films feel more like special events. While movies can still address the philosophical and moral quandaries and social commentary that Star Trek is known for, this, too, often works better in a television series.
A television show can tackle a different moral question each week, while a film risks becoming muddied if it tries to do too much. Overall, Star Trek shines brightest when it truly commits to television, but it sometimes falters when it turns to the big screen.
Star Trek Movies Can Be More Restrictive Than TV
From The Original Series to Strange New Worlds, Star Trek has excelled in the television landscape. The greatest episodes are better than the franchise's best films because they allow for more unique perspectives.
Every iteration has worked better on television than in film, and a future with only movies is worrisome for fans. Not because the films won't be good, but they work best when in concert with the television series. Section 31, for example, had a great central character in Michelle Yeoh's Philippa Georgiou from Discovery.
However, the film introduced too many new characters and tried to do too much in its 95-minute runtime. A miniseries would likely have worked better for that particular story and would have given the characters more room to breathe. As it was, it felt like the film didn't know what it wanted to be, and it was obvious the concept had once been an idea for a television series.
Shifting from television to film risks losing the heart of what makes Star Trek great. Films can offer a lot in terms of scale, but they can limit character development and unique storytelling. Star Trek's upcoming projects could define its future, and the absence of television shows on the horizon leaves the franchise feeling as if something is missing.
With Strange New Worlds coming to an end and Starfleet Academy's failure to truly take off, the franchise's future is already in flux. Turning Star Trek into the next big sci-fi blockbuster could work, but it risks losing the franchise's unique identity. It has never been about blockbuster budgets and cool special effects.
While it can have those things, Star Trek often works best when it focuses on smaller, character-driven stories. There's a reason episodes like TOS's "The City on the Edge of Forever" and TNG's "The Inner Light" remain so iconic, and it has nothing to do with their special effects.
Ithas long depended on television for its success, and a shift to feature films pulls focus away from the franchise's greatest strengths. Star Trek movies can be great, but they have always been built on the backs of the television series that came before them. It may be time for the franchise to change things, but it's a mistake to shift entirely to feature films.
Television is where it truly excels, and a transition risks losing many of the franchise's greatest strengths. Fans will be here for whatever the future holds, but a shift away from television will go down as a major fumble for the franchise.
