Remember when fandoms and nerd culture were synonymous with Trekkies? Back in the 90’s, before the internet allowed for any and all fandoms to connect around the world with the click of a button, the Trekkies were organizing conventions and staying in touch with each other on all things Star Trek. Based on all of the Trekkies I’ve met and known, they’re mostly very polite and are simply united over a deep love of the franchise, making me wish that we could have more positive relationships with nerd culture than not. I can’t remember anytime there was a serious division in the fandom besides whether Kirk or Picard were the better captains, and even then that was usually in good fun.
The franchise has received a bit of a revival in recent years, mostly due to the success of Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access, with multiple new series in development for the franchise, including a new Picard show starring Sir Patrick Stewart. Now we can add one more series to this list of upcoming shows, and it’s a bit of an odd one out. CBS announced today that a new CG animated series set in the Star Trek universe has just been ordered by the golden boy of 90’s animation channels, Nickelodeon.
The series will follow a group of ragtag teenagers that find an abandoned Starfleet ship, only to commandeer it for a wild adventure of action, self-discovery, and showing how bright and wonderful the future can be if we all just get along. So Star Trek with teens basically. As vague as the premise is, there’s a lot of potential behind it, especially given that the directors helming the project, Kevin and Dan Hageman, were behind the fairly successful Trollhunters series on Netflix.
I’m surprised that this series isn’t premiering on CBS All Access like all of the recent Star Trek shows, but it kind of makes sense why it isn’t. Nickelodeon is an institution for kid’s programming and more kids probably have access to Nickelodeon than they do CBS’s streaming service. Add onto the fact that having a show aimed children would die quickly on a more adult oriented streaming service like CBS All Access. Speaking as an adult that grew up watching way more Nick than Cartoon Network, I’m just happy seeing Nickelodeon get an interesting show in its library that has the potential to be genuinely great and isn’t the spawn of Satan like Fanboy & Chum Chum. Also, do yourself a favor and never look up that show. Ever.
Animated ‘Star Trek’ Series Greenlit at Nickelodeon – [Variety]
