“We absolutely keep track of it”: Despite 5 Seasons, Star Trek: Discovery Failed to Learn the Real Reason Strange New Worlds is a Better Show

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds may have been relatively new to the scene as far as the adventures of the USS Enterprise are concerned but it is far from being a lame attempt at a cash-grab spin-off. Starring Anson Mount, Rebecca Romjin, and Ethan Peck in the lead cast, the new series explores worlds far beyond the stretches of what the known galaxy holds.

With time, the audience and critics have come to expect consistency in the pattern of the newly launched television series or films that will no longer continue to employ a formulaic recipe of success and instead design narratives, storylines, and characters that are far more original, ingenious, and interesting than the ones we have seen before.

For a reason not too dissimilar, Star Trek has become a subject of debate over the difference between Discovery and its more modern counterpart and the reason behind its failure to surprise the audience as much as Strange New Worlds is capable of doing.

Star Trek Learns a Way to Balance the Old and the New

Despite the presence of alternating storylines, remakes, and reboots, one thing that franchises and IPs have not been able to shake off is the need for writers, creators, and/or directors to brand their products with their individually unique marks. The trend, if done right, can elevate the gravity of a show and enrich its already existing lore with more depth into its characters (for instance, Episode 3 of HBOʼs The Last of Us Season 1).

However, if a show veers too far off the given track so as to entirely fall off the plane of acceptable storytelling, the audience not only gets whiplash from the ruined plotline but feels deceived and harassed by the destruction of a perfectly good story (for instance, The Witcher Season 2).

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds finds a perfect balance between what can be done and what ought to be done and presents the fans with a show that allows creative liberty and experimental storytelling within the limits of the established mythology of the 58-year-old franchise.

Star Trek Fans Discover the Reason Behind Showʼs Success

As Star Trek: Discovery enters into its fifth season after launching in 2017, the audience traces the voyage of the USS Discovery on their encountering of new worlds and civilizations across the known universe. Launched in 2022 as a spin-off from season 2 of Discovery, the plot of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds isnʼt much different from its counterpart other than holding a more nostalgic attachment to the original series.

The audience has understandably felt the connection and the intensity of Strange New Worlds over that of Discovery and it is high time to reflect on what makes the former more deliberately successful as a show as compared to the latter. In a Television Critics Association panel held on February 2022, Strange New Worlds creator Alex Kurtzman revealed [via Showbiz Cheat Sheet]:

I think anyone who has ever traveled in the world of Star Trek knows they’re inheriting canon. That sort of fires in both directions. We absolutely keep track of it, we have writers on all the staff that keep track of it, we have a frequent showrunners’ meeting where the showrunners of all the shows get together in advance of the scripts they’re about to write as they’re starting to break seasons. And they all share ideas and information about what they’re doing so that we can stay ahead of any problems that may come up so we’re not stepping on each other’s toes.

Alex Kurtzman also contributed to the Star Trek reboot by penning the scripts of the 2009 film starring Chris Pine and its 2013 sequel starring Benedict Cumberbatch in Star Trek Into Darkness that served as a direct remake of Wrath of Khan. After Star Trek Beyond underperformed at the box office, a fourth film that has been in development hell since 2018 is still in the works at Paramount.

Star Trek: Discovery and Strange New Worlds are available for streaming on Paramount+