I Approve Of Young Bearded Spock

I remember when I first heard that CBS was bringing out a new Star Trek series a few years ago. Immediately my heart sank because it was going to be subscription only. "Fuck that," I thought. I like Trek, but not that much.

I've been a fan of the franchise since the late 60s when it first appeared on our small, 19-inch television at home. It was one of the few shows my dad would let me stay up past my bedtime to watch. My level of fandom precludes me from calling myself a trekkie or even a trekker, but that doesn't mean I'm not engaged with that universe. I'm enough of a fan that I've seen all the episodes of all the series (with the exception of Deep Space Nine and Voyager, both of which lost me about halfway into their runs) often enough that I can turn one on and within seconds say, "Oh, it's that one." But I've never been to a Con, met any of the actors, or have I ever owned any memorabilia beyond a couple plastic model kits of the Enterprise (the ones with the lights that never worked) and a couple other trek-related gifts given to me over the years.

I enjoyed the J.J. Abrams reboots as well as the oft-maligned Star Trek: Enterprise, a Trek some 35 years after the original, that my dad and I still enjoyed watching together.

A combination of things ultimately led me to buy a subscription to CBS All Access. Firstly, Ben and I cut the cable cord and took up streaming various services a couple months ago in an effort to cut expenses. Secondly, this all happened around the same time CBS announced Picard, and that was one I definitely wanted to see, what with The Next Generation being my favorite series of the franchise. Since we had to get All Access in order to see Picard, we bit the bullet and subscribed.

Shortly thereafter we started Star Trek: Discovery, and I have to say that in spite of a rather slow start, I've grown to love it. I appreciate how they pay homage to the original series, but have put a new coat of paint on the tech and the stories themselves, and (despite the lens flare it inherited from Mr. Abrams) I think It's beautiful. I know some fans loathe it, and my personal beef at this point (which may be explained at some point) is that if they have all this tech (mycelial drive, 3d holographic projectors, touch displays, and a plethora of other goodies supposedly in place and well integrated into life years before the events of the original series, what happened? Where did It all go? On the other hand, I can just sit down and enjoy it for the eye candy it is and imagine Kirk and crew utilizing the same tech.