(bright upbeat music) - [Narrator] It's been nearly four years since Star Trek Discovery
aired its first episode. Some fans rushed out
to get CBS All Access, while others said putting it behind a paywall was outrageous. Then there were those who
said they would wait and see. There were also concerns from
some fans that new Star Trek wasn't listening to the fan
base, but for the most part, everyone was United in the
excitement that Star Trek was being made again. And historically, the Star Trek fandom has been mostly United and
its love for the property. Sure, there were those original series people who hated Next
Gen for a season or two, then there were some descending voices when Janeway took the helm, until they realized she
was a badass leader. Some people felt a little over tracked during the TNG, DS9, and Voyager overlaps. And you can't forget the Enterprise haters who covered their ears during
the awkward theme song. (bright upbeat music) - Just like that. - [Narrator] But when the dust settled, the fandom was still
in love with Star Trek. But on that Sunday afternoon
on September 24th, 2017, following the first new
episode of Star Trek made for fans in 12 years, the fandom shattered like
a giant pane of glass dashed against the rock. And now nearly four years have passed and the fandom is still as
broken as it's ever been. It's sad to think that one
of the first TV fandoms ever formed might be forever
fractured into old versus new. It's troubling to think what it meant to be a Trekkie in the past, will be different than what
it means in the future. Were we all United in
one hope for the future, a shining city on top of a hill where everyone has a seat at the table, but what if we told you there was a way to put the pieces back together again? What if we told you there
was a plan in place right now to forge the broken pieces
of our Trekkie fandom heart and make it whole again? That the words of fans who said, this is not what Trek is supposed to be were heard and changes
were being put in place. With the goal to make new Star Trek shows, the way fans fell in love with them and holding the ideals that Star Trek has represented for more
than half a century. And we believe this plan has been in place for longer than anyone realizes. If you like the Trek streaming now, then sit back and enjoy the
cherry on top of the Sundae we are about to serve you. If you hate new Trek, watch this closely because
this is the first step in taking Star Trek in a
direction you will enjoy. And for those of you who've been watching because it's the only Trek we have, but hoping for it to
become more like the Trek you remember and love,
this is the video for you because we are about to show you how Star Trek Strange New Worlds
is going to save Star Trek. - It is the struggle itself
that is most important. We must strive to be more than we are law. It does not matter that we will never reach our ultimate goal. The effort yields its own rewards. - But before we share
this exciting revelation, make sure you stay tuned
until later in the show where we'll be showing you why Nord VPN makes an excellent partner
for giving you control of your internet experience
across the globe. And if you haven't already
subscribed to our channel, please do so now and give us a thumbs up if you want more amazing revelations about your favorite shows. Also click the notification
bell to never miss an episode because YouTube is a fickle mistress. And make sure you stay tuned to the end to see how to get this awesome
Star Trek graphic design from the amazing artists at mixedtees.com. Everyone has the right to
love and hate what they want that's the beauty of being free, and we should respect their
right to those opinions even if we don't agree with them, some people will be upset at
the suggestion that Star Trek needs to be saved at all. And others will say that
under the current leadership and writers, Trek can't be saved. But no matter what side you are on, the reality is that of
something doesn't change this divided fandom, there will be no new
Star Trek in the future. More than 2000 Star Trek
fans across YouTube, Reddit, and Twitter,
were asked anonymously to choose between three statements. New Star Trek is good
people should stop hating. I'm watching because it's Star Trek, but I hope it gets better. It's a dumpster fire, I
won't watch anything new. The results showed exactly how fractured the fandom currently is. 28% of people polled said,
Star Trek is good like it is, 32% said they are watching,
but hope it gets better. And 40% of those polled said they hate it and will never watch it. Remember these numbers
because they are the proof that changes are coming
as we will show you. These numbers are the definition
of a fractured fandom, and you can bet that Star Trek producers, CBS and Paramount, have
taken similar polls and understand the fandom
is largely in distress. Before going in, on the all
access streaming services, CBS had been offered large sums of money by Netflix and Amazon to
produce new Star Trek series. When CBS decided to bet
on their own content, they wouldn't be able to afford
a fractured fandom for long. They can't afford to keep making Star Trek that the majority of
their fans don't love. Enter Strange New Worlds, the show is considered
a spinoff of discovery, but the reality is that
it's been waiting to be made for 55 years. It's the story of Christopher Pike who captained the star
enterprise before Captain Kirk. Strange New Worlds will focus
on the eight to 10 years before Kirk and the events of the original Star
Trek series take place. Captain Pike's key bridge officers include a young Spock and
a resourceful Number one, keeping with Gene
Roddenberry's original vision in Star Trek's original pilot. And when we say they are keeping with Roddenberry's original vision, we mean more than having
a woman as number one, but let's get back to that in a moment. Star Trek Strange New Worlds is a unicorn. It simply shouldn't exist. And the fact that we
are getting this series sometime in 2022 is because
no matter what CBS, Paramount, or Alex Kurtzman things, the fans are the heart
and soul of Star Trek. And when an overwhelming number
of fans demanded more Pike at just the right time, the fans got exactly what they wanted. And this voice of the fandom
is why the Star Trek universe will begin to morph back
into the show everyone loves, but let's start at the beginning. While Star Trek head Alex
Kurtzman gets most of the blame from fans who felt
Discovery was a train wreck coming out of the gate,
the reality is Brian Fuller got that train rolling in the first place. Fuller, a writer for deep
space nine and Voyager, had been advocating for Star Treks return to television for a long time. Fuller who was openly gay,
wanted Star Trek to return because of its impact on minority groups, he commented that he
couldn't stop thinking about black people inspired
by Nichelle Nichols and Asian people seeing George Takei and the hope that gave them seeing there was a place
for them in the future. Fuller knew right away that
like Michelle and George, he wanted a gay character
to be in the spotlight and for the LGBT community
to have same feeling that the future is for them too. Fuller remembered receiving hate mail during Star Trek Voyager by a
fan that thought seven of nine would be gay. And he vowed that if he ever
did another Star Trek series, it would introduce someone who is gay. Fuller said he wanted to carry
on what Star Trek did best, which was being progressive. He wanted to look at every
role through a color blind and gender blind prism. The star of the show would be an African-American
woman as well. And why not, voyager
featured a female captain, which was progressive at a time when women in the U S military were just being allowed
to serve on combat ships. And what about Deep Space Nine? Captain Sisko was an excellent captain and African-American, but
Fuller an advocate for change didn't stop there. He wanted Trek to be true, but he wanted it to be very different. The lead character Michael Burnham, wouldn't be the captain
as had been the lead for every other Star Trek series. She also would be unlike other Starfleet officer fans were used to. But before we explain how Fuller would go against Roddenberry's vision, let me tell you why we
love this video sponsor. Nord VPN has been instrumental
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room chose to ignore Roddenberry's long standing rule, that Starfleet crew members not have any significant
conflict with one another, or be depicted negatively. The team reason that
since this was a prequel to the original series, they could work up to Roddenberry's ideals instead of adopt them outright. They must have forgot
that discovery takes place three years after the pilot for Star Trek the original series, where Roddenberry's vision
is fully laid out already. Fuller and his team
decided they wanted a show about struggle and conflict
instead of hope and ideals. Fuller also wanted to
completely redo the Klingons in look and style. The reality is that Fuller
wanted to recreate Star Trek in his image of what Star
Trek should be moving into the future. And Kurtzman doesn't get a pass. He confirmed that prior to Fuller leaving, he promised him the story, characters, big ideas and movement of the
season wouldn't be altered. Fuller's vision was firmly put into place for the first season of Discovery. Fuller was ultimately fired by CBS for continuously missing deadlines, and forcing the streaming service to push the show's launch
date back multiple times. His work on American Gods
was spreading him thin and executives felt his
attention should be on Star Trek. Once Fuller left his co-show runners, Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts took over the helm for season one. When Discovery hit the
screen for the first time, it was generally agreed that they had put the $8.5 million per episode to good use. The show looked incredible
with excellent cinematography in special effects, but for some fans, that's where the compliments stopped. After Michael Burnham disobeys orders, starts a war with Klingons,
and gets her captain killed, it became clear that the hallmark Star Trek optimism fans were used to, would not be a part of this series. Following episodes would introduce fans to a mostly female cast,
aside from two gay men, a male alien, and an evil male captain. The vision for an extremely progressive Star Trek was complete. And fans who understand
what Star Trek is all about would have been fine with this. The problem is they broke a few critically important Star Trek rules that every new series needs for success. The first rule is that optimism and hope be featured alongside characters, who do the morally correct thing, because it represents
the ideals of Starfleet. The second rule is that the
captain is the glue of the show. And as fans, we are anchored by the notion that he or she is the embodiment of good and the ideals of Starfleet. And while any crew member
may stray from those ideals, the captain will always bring them back and make sure the ship
does the right thing. And finally, Fuller Kurtzman
and their teams did a great job representing women and the LGBT community and evil men around the world. But do you know what was missing? A non LGBT good guy and sorry,
Saru, aliens don't count. What did Fuller say from the beginning? People want to see themselves represented in a positive way in the future. Discovery left out an
important part of the fandom. There are no stats that
breakdown Star Trek fans by gender, race, and sexual orientation. But if we look at what we know, it's easy to see the issue with some fans. According to Gallup polls,
about 4.5% of the population identifies as LGBT. So let's assume that between five and 10% of the fandom identifies as that. Star Trek YouTube channel
statistics report, a male dominated audience
of between 80 and 90%, that would leave about 20%
of the fandom being women. Since we don't know for sure, let's say 30% of the
fandom is made up of women, and there are more men watching
YouTube for whatever reason, let's be fair and also
say 10% of the fandom is made up of evil guys who
were rooting for Lorca to win. That still leaves half of the fan base unrepresented in Fuller Star Trek future. Perhaps the team was wrapped
up in progressive Trek and forgot about the rest, or maybe they thought turning a Klingon into one was good enough. The bottom line is Discovery left people behind and fans noticed. Kurtzman said in several interviews that it's hard not to take
the criticism personal while industry insiders and critics gave discovery high marks, longtime fans all over the internet began criticizing the new show,
and according to insiders, it bothered Kurtzman more than he let on. But Star Trek discovery was in motion and it was too late to change everything. All they could do is make course
corrections along the way. We believe that by mid first season, Kurtzman knew the trouble
brewing with longtime fans and it wouldn't get better
unless something changed. That change was coming, but
it didn't come from Kurtzman. First season co-show
runner Aaron Harbert's, was the one interested in
exploring Captain Pike. He felt that he had not
been seen much in Star Trek previously and would be
an interesting character. He wasn't interested in exploring Spock, feeling like that character
had many appearances in the franchise, and he was reluctant to have anyone other than Leonard Nimoy
or Zachary Quinto play him. - I like science. - [Narrator] But Kurtzman and executives locked onto the idea of Spock thinking it would give fans a
better connection to the show, but in order to introduce Spock, they would also need to
introduce Pike in the enterprise. It was confirmed Spock along
with Pike and Number one, would be on discovery in April, 2018. Harbert's and Berg were let go in June. That same month, Kurtzman
signed a five-year deal with CBS to expand the Star Trek franchise. He also became the discovery
showrunner for season two. And that's when we started
hearing things about section 31 in Starfleet academy shows. Little did they know the
spinoff they would choose was about to join
Discovery for season two. From the moment Anson
Mount entered the show as Captain Pike, it was
like a breath of fresh air. It was the small injection
of hope the show needed. It was plain and obvious
that Pike was a good man with excellent leadership skills, and upheld the ideals of
a Starfleet fans love. For many fans who still
didn't like discovery, Pike wasn't enough to counterbalance the storyline of Michael
and Spock being siblings, that realization rocked the fan base. Some people said what's the big deal? And others said, "Spock
never mentioned a sister." Others felt like Canon was not getting the respect he deserved. Arguments would ensue. Despite the upheaval, Kurtzman
had been listening to fans, the Klingons got their hair back. Apparently they only shaved during war. Someone forgot to tell Worf. - Not like last time. - Oh no just a little off the top I took way too much off last time. - [Narrator] Another fan
complaint was that discovery wasn't very fun. Pike brings a twinkle in
his eye to season two, but there is also the addition
of comedian Tig Notaro in a supporting role, fans also
wanted more member berries. So Kurtzman gave them the TOS uniforms, and Michael got a tour of the enterprise just for the fans enjoyment. But the continuity
issues were still there. How were they going to
explain the sport drive? Discovery seemed very
technologically advanced compared to say the enterprise. Also, how would they reconcile Michael and Spock's relationship, and explain why no one ever heard of her? Kurtzman has famously said that if half the fans hate your work, and half of them love it, then you are okay because that's
the nature of the internet. But as our poll shows, more than 70% of fans want
Star Trek to be better, even if only half of
your fans hate your work, do you think network
executives are going to be okay with losing money they
can't afford to lose? There is no doubt, that behind the scenes, there was pressure to
bring more of the fan base back to Star Trek. Kurtzman began repeating
in every interview how important it was to listen to the fans and that the fans were the
force behind Star Trek. And once Kurtzman saw
the fan outpour for pike, he realized there was an opportunity to make a necessary change. He knew Discovery could no
longer exist as it currently was. There were too many errors
that needed to be fixed. Online petitions started to spring up for Pike to be in a spinoff series, set on the enterprise with
Rebecca Romijn as number one and Ethan Peck as Spock. The path was becoming clear. The fans wanted the enterprise, but there was no way
discovery and enterprise could exist together. Discovery had to go because its existence would only come cause
more issues for Canon. Kurtzman's decision to
send discovery 930 years into the future is the only
thing he could do for the series and not admit they had made mistakes. Discovery is now free
to do whatever it wants safely outside of the Star Trek timeline, and strange new worlds can
become the Star Trek show we should have had from the beginning. But what about Picard? Whether you like Picard or not, the truth of the matter is
we only have a Picard series because it is completely different from Star Trek the Next Generation. Patrick Stewart did not
want to return to Picard. He only agreed to return if the character was totally different than how he had played him before. While people have been
critical of the writing, being able to see Riker,
Troy, Seven and Data was worth it for many fans. While the show is still missing the Starfleet optimism fans love, season two will have Q, Guinan, and hopefully a more
developed storyline for Seven. The point here is that
neither discovery nor Picard, are an outline for the
future of Star Trek on TV. Strange New Worlds is a
change to give the fans what they want while still
growing the franchise. Not convinced, from the moment
they Greenlit the series, they have all been
pitching the same message Alex Kurtzman via Twitter,
on May 15th, 2020. We heard you and thank you
to all the amazing fans for your Trek Love. Let us boldly go together
to Strange New Worlds. Also at the same time, Akiva Goldsman had written the
first episode of the series and said it would be more optimistic and episodic than Discovery and Picard. He said it would be in a style closer to the original series. In August, 2020 Kurtzman said
he felt audiences respond to Pike's relentless optimism, and said the show would explore how Pike remains an optimistic leader, despite learning about his
tragic future while on discovery, Pike's enterprise will meet new aliens, see new ships, and visit new cultures. Still not convinced? April, 2021 Anson Mount in
an interview with Collider, said that Star Trek by nature is episodic. Star Trek can be a lot of things, but classic Trek is really founded on the big idea of the week, and the big idea of the
week needs room to breathe. There will be larger plot arcs, but it is really back to
the alien of the week. June, 2021, Rebecca
Romijn made a point to say strange new worlds would
feature standalone episodes with lots of Easter eggs
during the first season that fans will love. She and the crew are very excited to introduce the show to the fan base. July, 2021, Anson Mount, while wrapping up filming of the finale, says old school fans are
going to be very excited. And while it's true, Strange New Worlds isn't a magic wand that
can heal all wounds, if you want Trek to be better, to embrace that which was loved, combine it with something new,
to create a style and tone that future spinoffs can embrace
to the joy of all Trekkies, then you should get excited
about this new series. Star Trek Strange New Worlds
can be that Star Trek show where everyone has a seat at the table. The ideals of Starfleet
are upheld and revered, and we once again explore our galaxy in search of new life
and new civilizations, boldly going where no human
being has gone before, but it will be up to
you to give it a chance. Will you be watching Star
Trek Strange New Worlds when it comes out? Let's talk about it in the comments below. Also check out this Vulcan in the Streets Klingon in the Sheets, inspired graphic design at mixedtees.com and get 20% off your purchase by using coupon code ThePopcast, the link is in the description below. Don't want the show to end? Become a popcast member
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