Uh-huh. Sure.
In the 90s, some people may have complained about the direction of the franchise under those showrunners, but STAR TREK achieved the peak of its popularity during that era. More importantly, ENTERPRISE aside, the Berman era was always trying to move the franchise forward, rather than constantly looking to—and deconstructing—the past. I may not have agreed with everything they put out, but I respected them for trying new things without using the past as crutch.
Modern TREK does not sell. People don’t watch it in appreciable numbers. It does not trend on social media. There is no merchandise to speak of in brick-and-mortar stores. It has had no cultural impact, and no single episode has been hailed as a classic. There’s just a small army of hardcore fans, casual viewers, sycophants on Twitter, and access media shills and their garbage-tier articles constantly trying to prop it all up with lies and misdirection. The franchise has been ground down to dust and strip-mined into a failed niche product on a failed streaming service, aimed at political ideologues and people who enjoy Easter Eggs, shaky-cam, pew-pew, and explosions.
It’s a similar situation with Disney’s STAR WARS. People complained about the prequels, but they still watched the movies and bought the merchandise. The franchise was still extremely healthy, and bred a new generation of fans. Flash-forward to the dismal Disney era, and you see the box office dropping radically, and people legitimately swearing off the franchise for good. Including me. And so it is with post-2009 STAR TREK. It’s a whole new ballgame, and everyone’s playing for keeps.
The greed, malice, and stupidity which have overtaken STAR TREK is a palpable thing. People are free to like what they like, but I frankly find myself amazed that people who continue to watch and support what it has become can also claim to love the previous iterations of the franchise, considering what a night-and-day contrast we’ve been presented with. It seems more and more that the remaining fanbase consists of brand-name addicts, political ideologues, and non-discerning people who just want “content” for its own sake.
Call it “smug”, call it “gatekeeping”, call it “toxic fandom”, if you will.
I call it “accepting reality”. Appraising the situation and looking at the facts. It’s a dead franchise. Everything it once stood for has been crushed or subverted, and the vast majority of people no longer care. There is a clear and predictable pattern in terms of what has happened regarding the corporatization and politicization of our favorite franchises. It’s no longer about storytelling, art, or exploring the human condition. Corporate locusts latch on, bleed these franchises dry, them move on to the next beloved property. Abrams and his Bad Reboot cronies have been at the center of much of it.
In this brave, new era, STAR TREK has generated more new shows within five years than the entire franchise had in its first 35 years. Throwing as much crap at the wall as possible in the short-term to see if anything sticks. Hacks and opportunists exploiting the franchise as a stepping stone to bigger and better projects.
And, as a result, it’s all falling apart: Nerd culture, fandom, iconic franchises, theatrical distribution, the Hollywood studio system, the era of celebrities, everything.
It is no longer HONEST, in any way, shape or form. And those fans who respect honesty, integrity and intelligence are rightfully fleeing from these sinking ships.
Who would have guessed that Q was into bestaility?!
