Star Trek and Vegetables

Well, we're one week out from the premiere of the new Star Trek series, Strange New Worlds, and I couldn't be more excited. 

I grew up a first generation Trek fan (Tekkie? Trekker? Trekist? We'll go with Trek enthusiast.) I thrilled to the adventures of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest. I watched each episode dozens of times through the years. When the first movies came out, I was beyond excited.

And then news came of a new series: Star Trek: The Next Generation. I was in college at the time and went to the house of a friend to watch the first episode. It was... good, I guess. McCoy had a brief cameo, which was cool, but the rest of the episode was only... okay. I had high hopes for the series,... until I watched the second and third episodes. I wanted to badly to love this new incarnation, but I mostly just liked it because it was Star Trek.

But then, it began to improve. By the third season, it was firing on all cylinders, and it concluded with the spectacular Best of Both Worlds borg episode cliffhanger. TNG was finally realizing it's potential. I loved Deep Space Nine, liked Voyager and Enterprise for the most part. 

And then there was the drought. No more Trek for most of a decade, until J.J. Abrams rebooted the movie franchise in 2009 and CBS All Access (now Paramount+) brought Trek back to TV with Discovery. Then Lower Decks and Picard. The third generation of Trek on TV had arrived.

I know not everyone is a fan of the latest Trek incarnations. That's okay. They're not perfect, but I still enjoy them. I especially have enjoyed Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike in the second season of Discovery, and I can't wait to see him lead the Enterprise crew in Strange New Worlds.

What can get tiresome is the vitriol in some corners of fandom over some of the new Trek series. If you don't care for them, don't watch them. You still have hundreds of hours of Trek to enjoy. Just say, "I guess it's not for me." and move on. 

Or... and it's just a suggestion...try watching some more. Enjoy it for what it is, not for what it is not. And you might even grow to like it. (That's the way I learned to eat vegetables.)