So what the hell happened? J.J. Abrahms reboot of the beloved Star Trek was critically and emotionally well received but after that it's been a warp core breach. Has the franchise finally fallen? Will there be no more Star Trek movies? There's a lot to unpack so let's see where it all went wrong.
Too much action, not enough reboot.
As much fun as the films were they lacked the one thing that made the original movies so beloved in the hearts and minds of fans. Compelling story lines. Star Trek fans, unlike Star Wars fans are used to the franchise being rebooted. Technically this would be the fourth reboot in the history of Star Trek. Classic Trek TV to Classic Trek movies, then onto The Next Generation, then TNG to J.J. Abrahms. The problem with the pipeline that J.J. And Paramount set up for the new reboot was that it tried to follow the classic movies too much and yet... not enough. Too much because they were copying movies that didn't need to be copied and not enough because despite all the spectacle we really didn't get much in the way of character and world progression. It's as if J.J. Abrahms set up the finest china, silver wear and centerpieces for a banquet and then served White Castle cheeseburgers with Dr. Pepper. They did an amazing job of giving themselves a blank slate from which to create amazing stories but those stories never came.
R.I.P. Anton Yelchin.
The shocking and sudden loss of actor Anton Yelchin was a crippling blow to the franchise. The actor that played Pavel Chekov did an amazing job and was well like by cast, crew and fans so losing him was a huge blow. Replacing him remains probably the biggest open ended question in the franchise today. How do you replace him? Do you even bother? The options are limited and if you're Paramount you don't like any of them.
The competition is almost as strong as the Borg.
While Star Trek was able to capture the spotlight almost single handedly movies like Avengers: Age of Ultron, Suicide Squad, and other science fiction giants like Christopher Nolan's Interstellar and The Martian with Matt Damon stole a lot of the sequel's thunder. With terrible to mediocre reviews for Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond respectively the movies simply couldn't grab the fan's attention. While Star Trek Beyond was considered the movie that would bring the franchise back into prominence it made less money in four weeks than Suicide Squad did in three and that movie was considered a flop. Star Trek Into Darkness also performed poorly leading many to believe that the money train might have finally dried up.
Back to TV?
Star Trek: Discovery is the franchise's first foray onto the small screen in over 20 years and so far is doing quite well. With less competition, a similar reboot style, good writing and a solid cast Star Trek Discovery is looking more and more like the medium that will carry the Trek into the 21st century and beyond. Fan reception has been mixed but mainly positive and the renewal of the series for another season is a positive sign we'll still have some Trek to follow if the next movie fails.
Reboot of the Reboot, that was Rebooted.
While I may be alone in this I am not at all looking forward to the new movies helmed by Quentin Tarantino. Slated for a 2019 release the troubled development of this flick has gotten more negative press than a Donald Trump press conference. Possibly going for an “R” rating or possibly not, Tarantino promises to bring us a Trek we have never seen before. Sorry Quentin, we already got that promise and it didn't go well for the last guy. His name was J.J. Abrahms, you might have heard of him. If that wasn't bad enough it turns out Paramount is actually working on TWO Star Trek movies that are both going to be very different. Simon Pegg had pitched an idea for Star Trek 4 that ultimately ended up competing with Tarantino's. Rather than choose which one of their kids was the favorite the studio execs decided to go with both. So with Discovery, Pegg's Trek and Tarantino's running pretty much all at the same time what will become of Trek? Will they collide in a matter-anti-matter fanplosion of universe shattering proportions? Only time will tell but I for one, am not looking forward to the fallout.