1996 - 2005: The Decline of Star Trek’s Golden Age

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[shadowleon]

Say what you want about Rick Berman. Yes, he made mistakes. But he wasn't trying to destroy Star Trek. Berman had the behaviour of a mature adult, Alex Kurtzman has the behaviour of an immature secondary school pupil.

[metalnuck]

DeForest Kelley also mentioned he got many letters from fans saying he inspired them to become doctors and nurses. Star Trek Discovery probably inspired it’s fans to become Tik Tokers.

[garym]

I finnd it hugely appropriate that during the golden years of Star Trek dark barely lit bridge sets were always shorthand for "evil alternate timeline where things have turned to shit."

[erichall]

If you grew up watching Trek in the 80's and 90's, consider yourself very blessed.

[dr.medieval]

The mid-nineties were a great time to be a Sci-fi fan. Trek was firing on all cylinders, Star Wars was back with new books, comics, and toys. We got the "special edition" re-releases on the big screen, and the building excitement of new Star Wars films coming. The X-Files. Batman: the Animated series, The X-Men Series, Gargoyles, The Crow. Even the comic book industry was being taken seriously for the first time. I worked at a comic book store back then. The birth of Image comics and "The Death of Superman" were huge. And all of it was being made by people who loved the franchises they were working on. We had NO idea how good we had it.

[athos]

As an old DS9 fan, that was a show that made me think. Philosophy, morals, ethics, the ramifications of your actions.
That show had some of the best writing I have ever seen.

[davyboy]

Hard to believe there were only 4 years between the end of Enterprise and the release of Abrams Trek. Really goes to show how much the world had changed in such a short amount of time, and not in a good way....

[spydermag]

I worked a Sci-fi convention for 25+ years. The room where the actors spoke was always packed up to the end of enterprise. The years that we had guest from nutrek it was half full at best unless there was a guest from the older shows like Brent Spiner and Terry Farrell.

[ArrowValley]

Star Trek once inspired scientists, today's trek inspires no one.

[pilouuuu]

The lack of optimism is the worst thing about nu Star Trek. The Next Generation and Deep Space 9 had some dark themes but it always showed some hope and how humans could act with virtue and love for all beings. That's what lacking, not only in entertainment, but in society in general.

[AshPrimeDCFC]

At school, whilst Voyager was at its prime, some friends and I wrote a Voyager episode that we would act out as a play. We recruited loads of the kids in our year to play each role. Myself played Paris, our main writer play Q as a cameo, and so on. I remember it so well and even though we never did finish performing the whole thing, I know damn well it was far better than the tripe that passes for Trek the last 15 years.

[DaveNarn]

Scott Bakula has been criticized for his wooden performance in Enterprise.
There is a small group of fans who can see the nice guy and leadership qualities of the actor shine through in the character.
Like in real life, all captains are not the same. He was no Picard, but then he didn’t shout or cry as often either.

[philipc]

I am a Star Trek purist, from watching TOS debute on the BBC through to the end of the Berman Era. Rick became Star Trek's guiding light observing 'the Roddenberry box'. I understand this was a frustration for writers, but it was an important part of the fomula that contributed to the franchise's popularity. Gretchen J Berg, STD producer, stated that they would be doing away with the box. It was too restrictive, or to put it another way, the writing staff lacked the imagination and creativity to work with it. They might have had to do some work. Berman Era Trek had no problem working with it. By basing Deep Space Nine on a space station staffed by a mix of Starfleet and Bajoran crews, the writers worked in parallel with the box. The box didn't apply to non Starfleet characters. They did a similar thing with Voyager, mixing Starfleet and Maquis crews. So with a degree of talent working with the 'Roddenberry box' is possible. Removing the box from the Star Trek formula is like removing the H from H2O, you no longer have water. So Kuntman Trek ended up not being Star Trek. The proof of this is plain to see. I have suffered the first seasons of the live action shows reluctantly. If you are going to criticise it should be done from an informed point of view. However, I had already lost interest in the franchise after the 2009 theatrical outing. I ended up sending a friend a 20 point e-mail about what was wrong with the film.
I celebrated a birthday at Pages bar in Pimlico where TNG episodes were being shown. At one point my sister turned to me and said "there's a message to these stories". My ecstatic response was"at last you get it" to which she replied " you don't have to cry". After watching DSN's Far Beyond The Stars with my friend Suzie and her young son Ben, he turned around to us and asked "what's wrong with being black?" We said "nothing". I was nearly in tears, the little guy got it. You don't get such moments with the abomination that purports to be Trek these days. Ben didn't even need to be targeted by a juvenile cartoon to get Star Trek.

[beardedbeergut]

You're right about how star trek inspired people. I grew up watching TNG and Voyager along with TOS on my dad's old VHS tapes. I'm now an archaeologist and looking to go back to graduate school for a degree in cultural anthropology. I spend my life learning about different cultures and traveling the world as much as I can. Thank you star trek for inspiring me to go on adventures and discover new and exciting worlds all here on Earth!

[gateclamp]

For me Star Trek ended after Enterprise at least we got the Orville

[chargingrhino]

I said my farewell to Star Trek at the end of “First Contact”. That movie was brilliantly conceived, written and executed, and it filled the only gap that remained for me in the entire IP: Who was the first alien species that humans met, and how did it happen? Great video, Dave. Thank you!

[arnthorsnaer]

As a 46 year old fan I can back this video up 100%. Voyager seemed out of ideas and it’s reliance on the Borg seemed more related to the success of First Contact than something original or exciting. It just seemed like reheated remains. Enteprise didn’t land on many levels.

[edpistemic]

This was absolutely spot on. I was was totally hooked in those late TNG/First Contact/DS9 days. But I never felt Voyager really clicked and didn't want a prequel series. You caught the feelings of the time perfectly.

[jameswalker]

Almost everything that Hollywood puts out these days is less optimistic. I remember leaving a theater back in the day feeling hopeful now you leave a theater feeling like WTF

[AHelms-uqwu]

It seemed part of StarTrek’s success from 60s-90s was the tandem idealism of space travel. As a youth in the 80s I was excited by the space program, wanted to be an astronaut, even asked my parents about going to SpaceCamp after I saw that movie in ‘86. There was a tangible excitement about humanity traveling to the stars that no doubt helped TOS in ‘66, as this coincided with the transition of NASA’s Mercury to Apollo programs. This continued into the 80s (TNG era) with the SpaceShuttle missions. Who can forget the name of the first shuttle orbiter? I don’t think it was a coincidence that interest and quality in ST waned as interest in space travel waned. As a child living in FL, space shuttle launches were highly anticipated as we would stop class to go outside and see the plume of fire&smoke from shuttle launches 5 hours north at Cape Canaveral.
I still get a little depressed watching the opening credits of ENT as though the creators were reminding us of how we used to be, our optimism and hope for an interstellar future, as if to say, “See the progress of humanity, how far we’ve come, and our true potential as voyagers!” And now look at us— the decline of ST (and pop culture overall) is a mirror of our own decline.