New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

This is part of the reason that the Borg-assimilating-Picard arc was so popular with fans. Though quickly resolved, the ramifications on the character remain resonant for the rest of the show's run and on into the films. There is no "back to normal" cop-out ending for Jean-Luc.

Again, I'm not the expert on Trek that I am with other shows, so I may get some of the details wrong, but as The Next Generation nears the end of its run, the creators start amping up an external conflict, one without any possibility for quick resolution. This conflict is the one between the Romulans and the Cardassians, a conflict which carries over into the next series Deep Space Nine, which I've barely watched at all - which is ironic, because, by all reports, this was a Star Trek with teeth, one which evolves, one which plays for keeps. This may be true - I don't know. I plan on taking a look some day, but by this time, I had gotten so bored with the redundant trope of bringing each episode back to square one, I really had little interest in continuing with the franchise.

Neither did the fans, apparently. Though Deep Space Nine was a big hit, the next show Voyager started strong, then faded and faded and faded. It's a show that seems to have the potential to really open up the Star Trek world, yet fails to on almost every level. The Voyager gets lost in the unexplored Delta Quadrant, outside of Federation territory. You'd think this would provide the opportunity for writers to go for broke and let their creativity fly, but no. Many of the stories seemed like repeats of stories from the Kirk/Picard days, only featuring aliens with even stranger foreheads. In addition, the need to keep Voyager lost in space only drew more attention to the weekly reset. How are we going to avoid saving our crew this time? In addition, the brilliant move of trapping the rebel Maquis with Federation loyalists seemed rife with potential for inter-crew conflict. Then the Maquis started getting along with the rest of the crew. What a waste.

Well, luckily, mythology show genius JJ Abrams got his hands on the franchise and rebooted the whole thing with the current hit movie. Despite my qualms about him altering Star Trek history with the time travel conceit, I can't argue that this is one entertaining film. The exemplary box office and reviews bear this out. And I guess since Abrams does change the past with time travel, this time the Enterprise really is going where no one has gone before. I just hope that this go-round, Abrams is a little more bold.

Continued:       1       2