CBS has officially announced the launch of a new Star Trek television series, which will begin in January 2017. A special feature is that there will be a preview on television but in the USA the series will be available exclusively on CBS All Access, the video on demand and live streaming service while abroad will be distributed to various platforms. The news was welcomed by Star Trek fans with excitement but also fears.

CBS plans to use the new Star Trek series to promote its CBS All Access service, which already offers the previous series of the saga. The news about the new production are really scarce because the press release only states that there will be new characters. What immediately raised arguments is the fact that the executive producer of the new series will be Alex Kurtzman (photo ©Gage Skidmore), already in in the production and writing staff and of the reboot movies.

I want to clarify my opinion about the reboot: I think it sucks big time! I consider the J.J. Abrams movies a poor Star Trek parody that turned a saga that became famous for the important topics discussed into a low level romp. In particular, the characters are ridiculous compared with the originals, especially Spock, reduced to a mama’s boy who spends his time making tongue-in-mouth with Uhura.

Actually, Star Trek problems began with the latest television series, Voyager and Enterprise, which tiredly where everyone had already gone before. The reboot was just a way to exploit even more the saga’s fame with superficial stories and a great use of lens flare. Should we expect such crap in the new series?

Alex Kurtzman was also executive producer of Fringe, again a product created along with J.J. Abrams, so he seems to be able to create quality shows as well. Movies and TV shows are very different products so we can hope that Kurtzman gets inspired to the first Star Trek series regarding topics. The press release actually mentions the exploration of themes that have characterized the franchise since the beginning.

In 2016 there will be the 50th anniversary of the original Star Trek series and there’s the clear intention of exploiting the celebrations to launch the new series. The thing that gives me hope is that there seems to be a particular attention on the saga’s fans and many of us heavily criticized the latest shows and the reboot. Star Trek makes sense if it boldly goes where no one has gone before, I hope Alex Kurtzman remembers that.