This show was honestly such a special gem. 💜💜💜

I'm going to miss all the cleverness, great writing, and loads of fun. I wish I could be friends with all the characters. Boimler and Mariner's relationship is so wonderful. I want IRL friends like all of them. 🙃

So long Lower Deck.

Engage the core.

In a TrekCulture interview a week ago, Rob Kazinsky, who plays Zeph in Section 31, talked about his reaction to the S13 movie.

He revealed one interesting point from behind the scenes about why the movie was made:

When I got this job, I was like, "Ugh, Section 31 movie, why are they doing a Section 31 movie? It's gonna be hated from the get-go. No ones gonna want to watch a Section 31 movie. We're doing a TV-budget movie. This isn't going to be what people want..." And I spoke to Alex [Kurtzman] and I spoke to Olatunde [Osunsanmi] and they explained to me that Star Trek is dying. And I don't know if people know that. You know, I was talking about Star Trek at my gym where I fight. You know, I'm a boxer where I fight with a lot of kids - you know, I don't fight them but train them - none of them knew what Star Trek was. Could you imagine that?

He went on to say that Star Trek had never had a base as big as Harry Potter or Star Wars but the small fanbase was passionate. He says that fanbase is aging and "we are going to lose Star Trek if we don't bring in new fans, new eyes and new ways of getting people to love the things that we love."

I think that's a valid point but Section 31 is not the answer. It's not particularly interesting for kids (I think) or for adults, whether or not they're Trek fans already. And for fans, this type of storytelling sacrifices the optimistic ethos (though not immune from criticism along the lines of DS9) that's at the heart of the Federation and the franchise. And I'm not even arguing this from a canon or gatekeeping point of view. It's not utlilizing Star Trek's niche and unique selling point in the market. Why should kids watch Star Trek instead of Captain America, Suicide Squad, or any MCU movie?

Here comes the question: If you're in Alex Kurtzman's position, how are you going to sell the franchise to a new, young audience? How are you going to convince kids who spend their time playing Roblox and watching Mr. Beast that Star Trek is a good show to watch?

A poll on Mastodon: what's the overlap between fans of Star Trek and fans of the sci fi genre of solarpunk?

It's a pretty small update - the project is still in the very early stages:

And last week at the premiere when pressed on their progress, Kurtzman confirmed he had “not yet” seen scripts, noting “They’re just breaking story.” The executive producer also said he speaks to them about the project regularly, adding “I mean, I adore both of them so much, they’re so fantastic, and I trust them a lot.”

Various ticket packages are available (which mainly include access to the park itself). Tickets start at $74 (Sunday dates), $79 (Friday dates) and $84 (Saturday dates).

If you are interested in cosplaying, the website has a list of restrictions. The ones I noted that would apply to Trekkies are no phasers, no balloons (I saw a person with balloons at STLV), or service animals in costume/part of costume (I saw this too at STLV). So please read the list before dressing up.