Highlights

  • Star Trek could learn from Star Wars' Andor series in terms of exploring complex dynamics in a dedicated manner on the small screen.
  • Fans suggest a potential Star Trek spin-off focusing on the Cardassian occupation of Bajor or Vulcan-friendly Romulan rebels to add depth.
  • Paramount's future plans for Star Trek are uncertain, but the franchise could benefit from a more focused, thematic approach like Star Wars.

While Star Trek has always been at the apex of the small screen’s science fiction offerings, one fan has taken to social media to highlight one show from another science fiction franchise that they think Paramount could learn a thing or two from.

Star Trek has been a mainstay of science fiction in households since its inception with the 1966 premiere of Star Trek: The Original Series, with series after series coming to the small screen after Star Trek’s original series was canceled. While the franchise also had feature-length films early on in its history, the rebooted cinematic experience brought on by franchise guardians Paramount has put a much stronger focus on the films that the franchise has in modern times. This emphasis has somewhat obscured Star Trek’s position in the science fiction zeitgeist, moving it further away from franchises like Doctor Who and more towards another, more theatrically inclined franchise.

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While Star Trek fans are worried about the franchise bloating like Star Wars, one of the latter’s more well-received small-screen projects could potentially be a good thing for Star Trek to emulate. Reddit user theginjoints took to the r/startrek subreddit to propose an interesting idea for the franchise in a post titled “Would love to see an Andor type of show in Star Trek.” In the post, the user highlights their enjoyment of Star Wars: Andor, a prequel series to Rogue One that follows its titular character’s journey to that fateful point in galactic history. As a longtime Star Trek fan, theginjoints also highlighted the potential for a new series that explored the dissident/authoritarian bureaucracy dynamic that Andor did in the Star Trek universe.

In addition to liking the idea of Star Trek taking a page from Andor’s book, theginjoints also had some interesting ideas on what dynamics could be explored within the existing canon. Their ideas include exploring the Cardassian occupation of Bajor from the perspective of the freedom fighters, military, and Obsidian Order, or alternatively, Vulcan-friendly Romulan rebels trying to avoid the Tal Shiar and the military. Failing that, the user also suggested that a new conflict on a planet the federation bureaucracy is not handling well could be interesting as well. This last bit is an interesting consideration and could tie into the desire for more Star Trek material showing the Federation’s early years.

Many fans were quick to point out that Star Trek has dealt with these themes before, a fact that the OP agrees with in an addendum to the post while specifying that their idea is less about the ideas behind Andor and more about the format and depth that it provides. Star Trek has features many conflicts with all sorts of dynamics, including complex ones like the faction-rife Dominion War story arc fans got to enjoy in Deep Space Nine. Thanks to this scale and variation, its inevitable that the franchise has touched on all sorts of conflicts over time, but never in the same dedicated way that a spin-off like Andor was able to capture. Part of the issue lies in Star Wars being a largely theatrical franchise with the occasional forays into shows always having a very focused, specific theme. This focus might be the biggest takeaway for Star Trek as it expands to more closely resemble the Lucasfilm crown jewel.

The idea is potentially one that could be useful to Paramount, as fans know very little about what’s going on with the franchise’s future plans. What is clear is that there are a lot of things in flux, such as the fact that a much-anticipated Star Trek: Picard follow-up series faces an uncertain future at the moment. Only time will tell what direction the execs at Paramount decide on and what sort of media will be produced from that mandate.

The Star Trek franchise is currently available to stream on Paramount+.

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Source: u/theginjoints|Reddit